Daddy Duo
by mindmelda
Summary: Duo's going to be a daddy! Much hilarity will ensue. I hope. Rated for language and adult situations.
1. You're What?

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 1  
  
You're What?  
  
(AN: This is a corollary tale to "Who's a Weak Onna?" You don't have to read that story of mine first, but I wouldn't mind if you did. This one is in a lighter vein, though. I needed some humor and sweetness.)  
  
"I'm late," said Hilde.  
  
Since Duo hadn't had his first cup of strong coffee yet, he simply nodded, "Yeah, me too. Colonel Une is going to skin me alive, but I just had to get in an extra 20 minutes this morning.  
  
Hilde rolled her eyes and exhaled loudly. So much for subtlety. She was definitely going to have to be more direct.  
  
"No, dumkopf, I mean LATE!" she emphasized the last word with four fingers making quote mark brackets.  
  
"Late with a capital L, late as in no period, late as in the main symptom of pregnancy!"  
  
Duo's mouth hung open. "What?" he squeaked.  
  
"I mean late as in I've got a doctor's appointment this morning. I thought you should know."  
  
"How..how'd that happen?" he whispered.  
  
"Oh, please!" she exclaimed.  
  
"No, I know HOW!" he blushed. "What I meant was, how, as in weren't we being careful that this wasn't going to happen-how?"  
  
"Shore leave," she said shortly. "Remember when I came to see you on your last mission?"  
  
"Yeah, we hadn't seen each other in six weeks, that's what I remember," with a faintly lascivious grin on his face.  
  
"As far as I can figure, that must have been it. I mean, when."  
  
"Well, then, it was worth it!" said Duo, ducking as Hilde hurled a half- eaten piece of toast at him.  
  
"Well, I'm glad you think it's so funny, Mr. Comedian. You get to fire the bullets, I get to suffer for nine months! Biology reeks!"  
  
"Hey, babe, I was just jokin," he said, getting up and coming over to her.  
  
She folded her arms and glared at him. "Hey, now, don't make me feel like a criminal or sumthin', here," he said, kneeling and putting his arms around her. "If it's true, is it such a bad thing? I mean, it would be our kid."  
  
Hilde, his Hilde, Miss Toughness-Personified, Miss-didn't-even-cry-when- she-was-wounded-Hilde, began to bawl.  
  
"Hey, now, don't do that!" he exclaimed. "You know I can't stand it when someone cries! You're gonna make me cry too."  
  
"I'm s-s-sorry," she stammered. "I'm just s-s-scared!"  
  
"Well, don't feel lonely," he mumbled, "The last time I was this scared, ten mobile dolls were trying to blast my ass into oblivion."  
  
"Oh, Duo, w-what are we going to do?" she wailed.  
  
"Well, I guess you're going to go to the doctor and I'm going to go to work and when you find something out, call me right away."  
  
"Duo!" she was still crying.  
  
"I can't think of anything else to do right now!"  
  
"Go with me?" asked Hilde.  
  
"To the doctor?" asked Duo. He hesitated. He had a profound dislike of hospitals, doctors or anything medical, since it usually had the connotation of having been wounded or beat to a pulp for him.  
  
He looked at Hilde's tearful face and simply nodded. "Okay, I'll call in with a personal emergency. I'm warning you, they'll want to know why. I usually use the personal emergency days to goof off and they're on to me."  
  
"Danke, Leibhan," said Hilde said.  
  
"I can think of several interesting ways you can "danke" me," said Duo, grinning and pulling her closer to nuzzle her neck.  
  
"Do you have any thoughts that originate ABOVE the waist?" she asked, leaning against him in relief.  
  
"Not when I'm being snogged by beautiful damsels in distress," said Duo.  
  
"Duo, I have to get ready to go," she said, pulling reluctantly away.  
  
"And besides, THAT is what got us in this situation in the first place!" she called over her shoulder.  
  
"I still say it was worth it," he said under his breath.  
  
He padded barefoot over to the vidphone and pushed in some numbers.  
  
He'd forgotten he didn't have a shirt on until Colonel Une's face appeared on the screen.  
  
"Interesting uniform, Maxwell," she said dryly. "May I take your current state of undress to mean you won't be coming to headquarters today?"  
  
Duo tried to nonchalantly fold his arms across his bare chest. "Um yes, I need a personal day, Colonel."  
  
"For what, Mr. Maxwell, sunbathing?" she asked him, arching one thin eyebrow.  
  
"Actually I need to take Hilde to the doctor," he said, swallowing hard. "It's kind of an emergency."  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that," Une said coolly. "Is she ill?"  
  
"Um, yeah, that's it," said Duo. "She's too sick to drive herself, so I need to take her."  
  
"Very well," said Une. "You still have a few personal days allowed. But, if I find out you've been going to the beach or hanging out playing pool all day again, I'll have your hide on my wall, Maxwell."  
  
"Word of honor, Colonel," said Duo, unconsciously fingering the silver cross he wore around his neck. "I'm not conning you. This time."  
  
"I need you back here as soon as possible," she added. "With Chang Wufei on the disabled list right now, we need everyone to fill in. We're short handed as it is. That's why we called you off reserve in the first place."  
  
"I'll be there tomorrow bright and early," he made an "X" across his heart.  
  
"And thanks, thanks a lot, Colonel."  
  
She merely nodded and cut the transmission.  
  
"I'm FREE!" he sang, doing a little dance of happiness, his tousled braid swinging wildly around.  
  
"Hurry up, Hilde, lets get this over with, and then we can go have some FUN!" he called out, bounding up the stairs to the bathroom to shower.  
  
He found Hilde in the bathroom, hanging weakly onto the side of the toilet.  
  
"Oh my God," he said, handing Hilde a glass of water. She rinsed out her mouth and spat. "Are you all right?" he asked rhetorically.  
  
She looked up at him with red eyes and said, "Hello, Dad."  
  
He turned 3 shades paler and abruptly sat down next to her on the bathroom rug.  
  
"Oh my God." 


	2. Say it isn't so!

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Say It Isn't So!  
  
(AN: I forgot the disclaimer. I hate writing these things. But, I must or somebody might get the ridiculous notion that I own the Gundam Wing characters and am making money off of them. Bandai and a couple of other companies I can't remember right now own them. Not me.  
  
AN:2 Oh, and just to be clear, this fiction takes place when the characters are older, early twenties. I'm not going to be accused of advocating teenagers getting knocked up, okay?)  
  
Duo sat in the waiting room with Hilde, nibbling nervously on the end of his braid.  
  
He had the center seat in estrogen central. All around him were women of various ages, and in various states of pregnancy or non-pregnancy, as the case may be.  
  
A very pregnant dark-skinned woman smiled at him. "Is this your first then?" she asked sweetly.  
  
"Uh, no, I mean, I don't know, no, um, yes?" answered Duo.  
  
"You just seem awfully nervous," said the woman. "But, there's nothing to worry about. I've had 4 already. Each one easy as pie."  
  
"Um, thanks," muttered Duo. "That's nice to know."  
  
"Except for Jaden," she said, frowning slightly. "He took a while getting here and I was screaming for the epidural by the time he showed his pointy little head."  
  
Duo paled. "Really?" he said hoarsely, quickly checking the available exits.  
  
"Oh, please oh, please God, I haven't asked you for much lately, but get me outta here pronto!" he prayed, "Or else I'm going to be hearing the gory intimate details of each one of her kids births! Kill me now if you can't get me outta here!"  
  
"Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell?" said the receptionist. "Doctor Lamarr will be seeing you now."  
  
"Thank you, God; I won't forget this," said Duo under his breath. Hilde gave him an odd look as he took her hand and they went into the inner offices.  
  
"Come in Hilde, this must be your husband," said the nurse, ushering them inside.  
  
"So, it says here that you think you might be pregnant," said the woman, reading from a chart she had in her hand. "Have you taken a home pregnancy test, they're very accurate, you know?"  
  
"I figured I'd be here one way or another, so no," said Hilde.  
  
"Well, we'll do that, then, and go from there," said the nurse.  
  
"First, I want you to disrobe and put this on," she handed Hilde a very minimal looking paper gown, "and then we'll just send you into the bathroom to do this little test, and then the doctor will see you."  
  
She spoke in that special tone one uses for the mentally impaired and small animals.  
  
Duo snorted softly. He was remembering part of the reason he hated doctors and hospitals.  
  
"And you can just wait here until Mrs. Maxwell is finished, okay?" she said to Duo.  
  
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied in the same tone he'd used to address the nuns at the orphanage.  
  
Duo found himself wondering if he had that same deer-in-the-headlights look on his face as Hilde had right now.  
  
"I'll be right here," said Duo quietly. "I'm not going anywhere."  
  
She nodded tightly and went into the adjoining bathroom to change and do the test. The nurse went with her.  
  
"Shit," said Duo to no one in particular. He just needed to swear to ease the growing tension in his gut.  
  
He immediately began to fidget. The doctor's office had diagrams of various internal organs, primarily of the female variety. There was a large color poster of the various stages of pregnancy and one slightly graphic one of internal and external male and female genitalia and reproductive organs.  
  
He began to sweat, closing his eyes briefly. This was nothing like the way he preferred to look at exposed expanses of female anatomy. He decided that women definitely looked better with skin on. Preferably in something lacy. Black lace.  
  
He swallowed, trying to imagine such additions to the sculptural model on the shelves of a woman's torso with the abdominal organs exposed. "Better," he said to himself.  
  
He walked over to the model, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" he joked, running his hands along the sides of the torso.  
  
"Are you molesting my anatomical model?" said an unknown female voice in an amused tone behind him.  
  
Duo jumped. "Uh, no, I mean, yes," he confessed, turning around.  
  
"You must be Mr. Maxwell. I'm Doctor Lamarr."  
  
Doctor Lamarr was 40ish, with gold wire rim glasses on her pert nose. She was medium height, with sandy brown hair starting to gray in front, green eyes and decidedly maternal looking. Duo felt instantly at ease, in spite of just being caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar.  
  
"Most people call me Duo," said Duo, holding out his hand.  
  
"Okay, Duo it is then," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
You can call me Dr. Lamarr," she said archly, but her eyes twinkled behind her spectacles.  
  
"So your Hilde's female doctor," said Duo, not being able to think of anything more intelligent sounding at the moment.  
  
"No, I'm her gynocologist, unless you're referring to my gender," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
"Ahem," said Duo. "Very clever. Sorry."  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Dr. Lamarr. "I thought a joke might put you at ease. You look as nervous as a porcupine in a condom factory."  
  
Duo grinned. He liked Dr. Lamarr. Here was someone else who couldn't resist a corny joke.  
  
"Does it show that much?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," said Dr. Lamarr as Hilde and the nurse came back into the room, Hilde trying desperately to hold the ridiculous paper gown around her. The nurse helped Hilde up on the paper covered examination table.  
  
"Here's the test," said the nurse, handing a small white plastic object to Dr. Lamarr.  
  
Duo held his breath and Hilde looked like she might faint.  
  
"Well congratulations," said Dr. Lamarr. "It looks as though we're pregnant."  
  
Duo was still holding his breath. Maybe if he didn't breathe, he'd pass out and when he came to, and someone would reassure him it was all a dream.  
  
Hilde began to cry, softly.  
  
"I do hope those are tears of joy," said Dr. Lamarr. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news."  
  
"No, not bad news," said Hilde softly. "It just doesn't seem real, that's all."  
  
"I take it this was not a planned event, then?" said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
Duo shook his head. "I'm not gonna say 'accident'," he said stubbornly. "NO kid of mine is gonna think he was an accident."  
  
"How about surprise, then?" suggested Dr. Lamarr.  
  
"That'll work," said Duo, going over to Hilde and putting an arm around her.  
  
"A surprise can be a good thing."  
  
"I'm gonna do a blood test to make 100% sure, but the test is 98% accurate," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
After asking the dazed Hilde a few pertinent questions, Dr. Lamarr asked her to lie down and exposed her stomach.  
  
"If we're lucky, we should be able to hear a heartbeat, even though you're only about 9 weeks along," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
She put a small device below Hilde's navel after putting a bit of conductive gel on her stomach. After a few crackling sounds, the unmistakable rhythmic sound was heard faintly through the device.  
  
"And that is your baby," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
Duo felt his knees go weak. Even when he and Hilde had gotten married in a small ceremony, he never felt this overwhelmed.  
  
"Our baby," he whispered in a weak voice.  
  
He looked over at Hilde and her face had a look of total wonderment upon it.  
  
"I need to sit down," he said hoarsely.  
  
"Alice, get Duo a cup of water, please," said Dr. Lamarr. "I don't need a fainter while I'm trying to do an exam."  
  
Alice guided Duo to a small chair and went to the sink to get him a paper cup full of water. He gulped it gratefully.  
  
"Can I have another?" he said, stalling for time. His head was spinning and he didn't dare stand up.  
  
"Of course," said Alice, the nurse, giving him a professional smile.  
  
He took another cup of cold water and drank it more slowly this time. He felt like he could finally stand up again.  
  
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave for this next part," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
Alice took his arm. "You can wait in Dr. Lamarr's office while she finishes the exam."  
  
"Feet up in the stirrups," he heard Dr. Lamarr say as he left, "and scoot down to the end of the table.  
  
He was profoundly grateful to be leaving. 


	3. Slowly Sinking In

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Slowly Sinking In  
  
Duo and Hilde drove home in almost complete silence.  
  
Duo for once had little to say. Hilde was lost in thought.  
  
Gathering up the armload of pamphlets, books and other things given them by the doctor, they quietly went inside.  
  
"I'm gonna call Une and tell her I won't be in the rest of the day," said Duo.  
  
"It's okay, Duo, go on to headquarters," Hilde said. "I'll be fine."  
  
"I can't concentrate on work today anyway," he said. He took a deep breath.  
  
"Are you as freaked out as I am?" he asked Hilde, tugging absently on the end of his long braid.  
  
"More," she said, sitting down wearily on the sofa.  
  
"Wanna bet?" he said, sitting down next to her and leaning over to rub his temples.  
  
"Don't worry, everything will be fine. I just have to get used to the idea," said Hilde.  
  
"You don't have to put on the brave face for me," said Duo, "I know that this wasn't the plan. It's your decision how to handle this," he added.  
  
"But, what do you want?" asked Hilde, reaching over and taking his hand.  
  
"I think I want to have a kid," said Duo. "I mean, you heard it too, that's our kid in there. I'm scared silly, but I think I'm already a little in love with this person."  
  
"Me too," said Hilde, smiling at him.  
  
Duo lay back on the sofa and closed his eyes. Hilde snuggled up next to him and put her arms around him.  
  
"I'm whipped," said Duo. "How about a little nap?"  
  
"Sounds good to me," said Hilde. "I've been so tired the last month or so."  
  
Duo grimaced faintly. "Sorry, I feel like you're doing all the hard stuff and I'm getting off easy."  
  
"I'll find a way for you to make it up to me," said Hilde mischievously.  
  
"Oh, so I'm your slave for the next um, what is it, 8 months?" he said, grinning fondly at her.  
  
"I could get used to that arrangement," replied Hilde, "Duo as my personal slave has a certain kinky appeal."  
  
He laughed. "Hey not in front of the kid, you pervert," he said, tentatively reaching down and putting a hand on her still flat stomach.  
  
"It's all right Duo, I won't break," she said quietly.  
  
"I know," he said. "I'm sure it's in one of those books we were given that you won't break if I touch you."  
  
"You can do more than touch me," said Hilde wickedly, looking over at him through her dark lashes.  
  
"Is that a command to your slave?" asked Duo, kneeling down in front of her and running his hands lightly up and down her thighs.  
  
"Well, more like a suggestion," said Hilde. "I wouldn't want to limit your options."  
  
"Is one of those options ravishing you on the sofa?" asked Duo, as Hilde reached around and slid the elastic off the end of his braid.  
  
"Number one option on my list," said Hilde, putting her hands on his shoulders and leaning in to kiss him.  
  
"What a kind mistress I have," he said breathlessly a few seconds later, shrugging out of his now unbuttoned shirt.  
  
Just then, the vidphone beeped.  
  
"Aw, shit," Duo exclaimed loudly, looking longingly at a partly unclothed Hilde sprawled in front of him and then at the vidphone, then back at Hilde, who was starting to giggle.  
  
"Better go answer it," said Hilde, sighing. "I'll still be here when you're done."  
  
He jumped up, buttoning his pants.  
  
"Don't move," he said, "I'll get rid of whoever it is fast."  
  
He turned on the vidphone to reveal the image of Heero Yuy.  
  
"Heero, what's up?" asked Duo.  
  
"Why are you still at home?" asked Heero in his cool monotone.  
  
"I'm taking a personal day," explained Duo.  
  
"Une told me you were taking Hilde to see a doctor."  
  
"Yeah, we're back now," said Duo, unnecessarily.  
  
"I can see that," said Heero, slight irritation creeping into his tone.  
  
"You're needed here," he added, "We're short on staff."  
  
"I need the rest of the day off, Heero," said Duo. His unbraided hair was hanging everywhere and he flicked a portion over his shoulder.  
  
"I need something valid to tell Une," said Heero, folding his arms.  
  
"Is Hilde ill?" he asked, his eyes boring into Duo's through the connection.  
  
"Not exactly," hedged Duo.  
  
"Don't be evasive with me," said Heero, beginning to sound truly annoyed.  
  
"It's personal, okay?" said Duo, not meeting his gaze.  
  
"You can tell me," said Heero. "I am completely discreet, unlike a certain baka I know."  
  
"Okay," Duo sighed knowing that Heero would be relentless until he knew the truth, "but don't tell anyone, except Une," he added.  
  
"Agreed," said Heero, waiting.  
  
"Heero, I'm gonna be a dad," said Duo, ducking his head.  
  
"A what?" asked Heero.  
  
"A dad," he repeated, "As in father, as in Hilde is pregnant."  
  
Heero raised both eyebrows, which would have been the equivalent of an audible exclamation of surprise for anyone else.  
  
"The truth?" he finally asked. "This isn't one of your jokes?"  
  
"No," said Duo in a slightly shocked tone. "Even I'm not that crazy. I wouldn't joke about a thing like that."  
  
Heero sat back in his chair. "Should I congratulate you?" he asked finally.  
  
"Sure," said Duo. "I'm getting kind of used to the idea."  
  
"I'll give Une an appropriate excuse," said Heero.  
  
"Hey, thanks buddy," said Duo. "I was going to call her but I got, um, distracted."  
  
"Judging by your state of undress, I don't want to hear what the distraction was," said Heero.  
  
Duo laughed. "I forgot to put my shirt back on. I'll see you tomorrow, Heero."  
  
"Good-bye, otosan," said Heero, almost smiling.  
  
"Otosan," repeated Duo, breaking the connection. He shook his head.  
  
"I had to tell Heero," he said to Hilde, going back over to the sofa and kneeling in front of her again.  
  
"I heard," she said, putting her arms around him. "I don't mind."  
  
"Pinch me," he said to Hilde. "I still think I'm dreaming."  
  
Hilde obligingly slid her hand down the waistband of his pants and pinched him hard on the ass.  
  
"OW!" said Duo. "That hurt!"  
  
"You asked to pinch you," she said innocently.  
  
"Now you're in for it," he said, taking her arms and pinning them gently by her sides.  
  
"Oh, I hope so," she said, panting as he slowly worked his way up her bare stomach to her neck with his mouth. 


	4. Bigger and Better

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Bigger and Better  
  
(AN: This story is dedicated to Misty Yuy, a most faithful reader who keeps cheering me on. I already dedicated a story to you, Jack, so don't pout. )  
  
Duo awoke to find the bed next to him empty, again.  
  
He heard flushing sounds from the bathroom, and then running water.  
  
Hilde came in later, looking a little pale and disheveled. Her short dark hair was still wet from a quick shower.  
  
"Sick again?" he asked rhetorically.  
  
"It's getting better," Hilde said. "Now it's only a little nausea first thing in the morning, and not every day."  
  
"Did I remember to say I wish it were me suffering instead of you?" asked Duo.  
  
"Only 29 times this week," said Hilde, lying back down on the bed next to him.  
  
"Counting, are we?" he asked lightly.  
  
"I'm writing it down," Hilde said. "I want there to be evidence in case I shoot you. No jury would convict me."  
  
"Ouch," said Duo. "I'm checking you for weapons right now!"  
  
He rolled over and pinned her arms over her head lightly with one hand and proceeded to run his hands down her sides.  
  
"ACK, that tickles, quit it!" she yelled. "Please, I promise not to shoot you!"  
  
"Can I turn my back on you safely now?" he said, rising and going to the bathroom door.  
  
"I forgive you for knocking me up," said Hilde.  
  
"I seem to remember some active participation on your part," he said, ducking into the adjoining bathroom as Hilde pouted at him.  
  
"It's still your fault," she said, "Can I help it if you're irresistible?"  
  
He laughed. "Okay, my bad."  
  
He went inside and turned on the shower. "I hope you left me some hot water," he said, running his hand under the spray, and stripping off his boxers, stepping in.  
  
"We'll have to start taking more showers together," Hilde said loudly so he could hear, coming into the bathroom.  
  
"You'll get no complaints from me," said Duo. "Come in and help me wash my hair."  
  
"You could cut your hair," she said, teasingly. "Then you could take shorter showers."  
  
He growled. "Even talking about cutting the hair is grounds for divorce. I have that written down somewhere."  
  
She dropped her robe to the floor and stepped in behind him.  
  
"You do the top and I'll do the bottom," she said, holding out her hand for the shampoo.  
  
"Ooh, now that sounds like an invitation I can't refuse," he said turning around and leering at her.  
  
"I meant your hair," she said.  
  
"I know what you meant," he said, "But I have a dirty mind."  
  
"You're going to be late for work again," she warned him.  
  
"Okay, I'll be a good boy," he said reluctantly.  
  
"Imagining Une bitching me out again has deflated me anyway," he said, turning around so Hilde could wash the ends of his hair while he shampooed the top.  
  
"I'll have to remember that," said Hilde, giggling, "A girl needs her sleep sometimes!"  
  
He turned around to rinse his hair and then handed Hilde a bottle of conditioner. "Hit me again, babe," he said, and she poured a generous amount into her palm and starting at the ends, worked her way up to his scalp.  
  
"Ah, that feels nice," he said, bending down a little so she could rub his scalp some more.  
  
"You know," he said, "I think you're getting bigger around the middle." He scrutinized her stomach.  
  
"I'm only three months along," scoffed Hilde, "Although my clothes are getting a little tighter. I mean my loose clothes too. Forget the smaller ones. I guess I'm going to have to go shopping and get something larger to wear before long."  
  
She sighed. "Pretty soon I'll be a huge stuffed sausage and you'll run screaming when you see me naked.  
  
He was rinsing his hair, squeezing water out of the ends. "Never happen," he said, "I kind of like your Buddha belly."  
  
"Great, so now I've got a Buddha belly." She sighed again.  
  
"You're supposed to get bigger," he said, frowning slightly at her and reaching for a towel. He grabbed another one for his hair and wrapped the first one around his waist, then handed Hilde a towel.  
  
"Don't get all depressed about it," he said. "After the kid, you'll snap right back in no time."  
  
"I hope so," she said. "But I feel like my body doesn't belong to me anymore. I'm no longer in control, the baby is."  
  
"Well, I guess that's true, in a way," said Duo thoughtfully. "After all, you're renting out part of it to someone else."  
  
"Strange way to put it," said Hilde. "But true enough."  
  
"And if you think I'm gonna kick you outta my bed just because you get a little rounder, then you sure don't know me very well," he said, reaching around her and rubbing her back dry with the towel.  
  
"How about a lot rounder?" asked Hilde, smiling at him.  
  
"Okay, a lot rounder," he said, grinning back at her. "Get as big as a damn elephant, I don't care, just as long as the kid's okay!"  
  
"Uh, no thanks," she said, laughing, and reaching up to help him dry his hair.  
  
"Quit worrying about nuthin," he said to her taking the towel out of her hands and hanging it up to dry.  
  
"There's enough real stuff to worry about without makin things up."  
  
"You're right," she said, "I promise not to worry about how I look anymore, okay?"  
  
"You look great," he said, bending down and kissing her on the lips.  
  
"Besides," he said, going into the bedroom, "it's not as though I mind nailing a fat chick."  
  
"Duo!" Hilde squealed putting her bathrobe back on. She smacked him hard with the damp towel with which she had just dried herself.  
  
"Hey, that's gonna leave a mark!" he yelled, seeing a slight red welt on his bare thigh.  
  
"No one better be looking there anyway," she said, "except me!"  
  
"Now, get dressed, and I'll go make us some breakfast."  
  
"I'll be down in a minute," he said, opening the closet doors.  
  
Sitting down to breakfast later, Hilde watched Duo eat.  
  
For the millionth time, she wondered where he put it all.  
  
"Duo, I think we can start telling everyone about the baby," she said, drinking a sip of juice.  
  
"I mean, it's going to be hard to hide soon anyway," she said, absently touching her stomach.  
  
"Heero hasn't said a word," said Duo. "But I was never worried. I bet he hasn't even told Relena."  
  
"I can hardly wait to tell Quatre and Trowa," said Duo. "Bring on the waterworks!"  
  
"Don't make fun of Quatre because he's sentimental," said Hilde.  
  
"Besides, I seem to remember a certain fellow with a braid almost fainting when he was told."  
  
"I'm going to see Wufei, too," said Duo. "Sally sort of let me know he needs cheering up. He's staying at Quatre's so maybe we can go visit them all this weekend." "That sounds nice," said Hilde, "I'm only working in the afternoon now, so I'm a little bored. "  
  
Hilde was working at Preventor's Headquarters too, but in a different section than Duo, so they rarely saw each other during the day.  
  
"You need to get out of this apartment once in a while. I know it's not the same for you since we came back here and sold the scrap yard."  
  
"Well, I do need to go shopping," said Hilde. "Maternity clothes, yuck," she said, wincing. "And my uniform won't fit much longer either," she shrugged.  
  
"None of that, now," Duo said to her, "Remember, you promised, no pouting."  
  
"I'll ask Sally if she can go with you," said Duo. "Gotta run, babe," he said, bending down and kissing her on the cheek.  
  
Hilde sighed as he ran out of the door.  
  
"Well, it's just you and me, kid," said Hilde, patting her stomach. "Let's go shopping."  
  
" 


	5. Woe is Duo

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Woe is Duo  
  
"Duo!"  
  
"Hm."  
  
"Leibhan!"  
  
"Wha..?"  
  
"Wake up!"  
  
"What's wrong!"  
  
Duo shot straight up in bed and looked wildly around. A holdover from the war when waking quickly was sometimes a matter of life and death.  
  
"I can't sleep!" complained Hilde.  
  
"Why not?" yawned Duo, frowning a little. He was now reassured that nothing was seriously wrong and a little irritated at being awakened at.  
  
"Babe, it's 4: 24 a.m.!" he said, rubbing his eyes and looking at the luminescent digital display on the alarm clock.  
  
"I'm hungry!" said Hilde.  
  
"Well, go get sumthin to eat!" Duo said, laying back down and closing his eyes.  
  
"I want chocolate ice cream!" whined Hilde.  
  
"Well go GET some chocolate ice cream," he said irritably.  
  
"But you ate it all after dinner," said Hilde, with a small catch in her voice.  
  
"So, you want me to go get you chocolate ice cream at 3 goddamn thirty in the mornin?" asked Duo in high aggrieved tones.  
  
Hilde began to cry. "I knew you wouldn't do it!" she wailed, getting out of bed and running into the bathroom.  
  
Duo looked at the closed bathroom door and wondered briefly when sane, sensible, practical Hilde had been secretly kidnapped and replaced by this unstable clone.  
  
He got up and pounded on the bathroom door. "Hilde, open the door this instant and let me IN!" he yelled.  
  
"NO!" wailed Hilde.  
  
"I swear I'll kick this damn door in!" yelled Duo.  
  
"Go ahead, you bastard, I don't care!" she yelled back at him. "I hate you, you pig!"  
  
She proceeded to add a few choice words in her native tongue that made reference to Duo's parentage, his manhood and his sexual proclivities.  
  
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph swinging from a rope, I'm going back to bed," he yelled through the door. "Rot in there for all I care!"  
  
He stomped back over to the bed and lay down, pulling the comforter back over him and closed his eyes.  
  
He could hear Hilde inside the bathroom sobbing loudly so he rolled over and covered his head with a pillow. He wasn't getting enough oxygen that way, so he jammed the pillow back under his head, panting a little.  
  
He rolled back over, and tried to ignore the sounds coming from the bathroom.  
  
It was impossible. He got up and knocked softly on the door.  
  
"Hilde," he said, raising his voice a little to be heard. "Hilde, don't cry, please come out of there."  
  
"Hilde, I'm going to get my lockpicks if you don't open this door in 5 minutes."  
  
"Hilde, did you hear me?"  
  
"Okay, I'm going to get my."  
  
The bathroom lock clicked and the door opened.  
  
"Fine, I'll come out," said Hilde. She wasn't a very lady-like cryer, Duo noted absently. Her face was puffy and blotchy and her red eyes looked like someone had punched them.  
  
Duo sat down on the edge of the bed and began to pull on his jeans.  
  
"Why are you getting dressed?" asked Hilde.  
  
"I'm going out to get you some goddamned chocolate ice cream," rasped Duo.  
  
"Can you get the kind with marshmallows?" asked Hilde, immediately cheering up. She smiled at him winsomely.  
  
"Fine," he said shortly, pulling on his shoes and then a t-shirt and grabbing his keys and wallet.  
  
"Oh, and get some chocolate syrup to put on top," she said lying back down and pulling up the covers.  
  
Duo gritted his teeth. "Oh, right, sure," he muttered. "How about a pony while I'm at it?" he asked sarcastically, under his breath.  
  
"What did you say, Liebhan?" asked Hilde dreamily.  
  
"Nothing," said Duo, as he left.  
  
Duo got in his car and drove immediately over to Heero's apartment. He ran up the stairs and banged on the door.  
  
After a few minutes, a more messy-haired than usual Heero appeared at the door.  
  
"Do you know it's 4:56 in the morning?" asked Heero, stepping back from the door a little. He had on pajama bottoms and nothing else.  
  
"I didn't come over to find out what time it is!" hissed Duo. "Can I come in?  
  
"I have company," said Heero, looking behind him.  
  
"You're kidding," Duo deadpanned.  
  
"No," said Heero, folding his arms and looking more stiff than usual.  
  
"Saints be praised; Heero's finally getting some," said Duo in amazement.  
  
"Shut up, baka and go home," said Heero.  
  
"Who is that, Heero?" said a feminine voice that Duo recognized immediately.  
  
"It's me, Duo," said Duo loudly. "Hi, Relena, what's up?" he smirked. "Or should I ask that another way?"  
  
Heero grabbed Duo by the front of his T-shirt. "Go home before I throw you down the stairs."  
  
"I keep telling you, dude, anger management classes would do you a world of good," said Duo as he backed down the stairs after Heero let go of his shirt.  
  
"Go!" said Heero, walking toward him. Duo ran down the stairs and got back in his car.  
  
"Geez, try to help some people," he muttered, fiddling around on the radio for a good rock and roll station.  
  
He went to an all night grocery and bought chocolate ice cream (the kind with the marshmallows) and chocolate syrup. Just for good measure, he bought some whipped cream and a jar of maraschino cherries.  
  
He drove home. It was now a little after 6:00. He put the ice cream and other things he'd bought away in the fridge and went upstairs.  
  
"Hey, babe, I got the chocolate ice cream," he said loudly, opening the door and kicking off his shoes.  
  
"Babe?" he said, peering at the lump under the comforter.  
  
He walked over. Hilde was soundly asleep.  
  
"I guess you can have the chocolate ice cream later," he said, sitting down on the bed and slipping off his clothes.  
  
He curled up next to Hilde and draped his arm over her. She stirred and instinctively inched closer to him.  
  
"I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday," he said, yawning and closing his eyes. 


	6. Uncle Q

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Uncle Q  
  
Duo and Hilde's smallish two-bedroom apartment was slowly getting very full.  
  
"How much stuff does one little kid need?" asked Duo after one of Sally and Hilde's shopping excursions. "I mean, we're talkin a 7 or 8 lb kid and he's got to have 80 lbs of equipment to go somewhere?"  
  
Hilde shook her head. "I know but the people at the baby stores keep telling me I need all these things."  
  
Crammed in the spare bedroom besides a crib was an infant seat, a stroller, a folded playpen, a small bathtub, and several stacks of unbelievably small clothes ready to put into a dresser with bunnies all over it.  
  
The spare room; formerly Duo's place to escape and watch hockey and drink beer, had been repainted aqua and yellow and now had bunnies everywhere.  
  
They were sickeningly animated bunnies that leered at Duo from every wall.  
  
"Geez Hilde, those damn bunnies are gonna give the kid nightmares. They're giving me nightmares. Do they have to have that 'I'm a member of a deranged cult' smile on their faces?"  
  
Hilde had run into the bedroom crying and locked the door.  
  
"Okay, no more insulting the cult of the bunnies," thought Duo, going to get his lock picks again.  
  
There was one thing about Hilde's advancing pregnant state that Duo was pleasantly surprised to discover. She'd become a sex fiend.  
  
It wasn't as though she was disinterested before, but now she could hardly keep her hands off of him. And what wonderful hands they were, Duo thought. And her mouth wasn't too shabby either, remembering last week when she'd come into his office at Preventor's Headquarters unannounced and dropped her concealing trench coat to reveal, well, nothing much underneath.  
  
He actually found himself getting turned on by the way her slightly rounded stomach looked over the black lace of her garter belt.  
  
Pregnant women could be very sexy, he decided as he felt himself getting aroused again thinking about Hilde dressed in a garter belt and stockings and a beret. And nothing else draped over his desk.  
  
However, now was not the best time to be thinking of that particular topic. They were on their way to see Quatre and Trowa for the weekend. Trowa's sister Catherine was supposed to be there. No doubt several of Quatre's numerous sisters, too.  
  
Wufei was there, too. He was staying there while he convalesced from a motorcycle accident. And Sally would be there. Duo suspected that things were warming up on that front.  
  
Even Heero and Relena were going to make an appearance.  
  
"The big family reunion," thought Duo. The perfect occasion to spring his and Hilde's little surprise on everyone.  
  
There was something that appealed to his male vanity to think of announcing, "We're having a baby." Something primeval, no doubt. Fulfilling one's genetic potential and all that.  
  
"I am virile, I am potent, I am MALE!" thought Duo, puffing out his chest as he drove.  
  
Hilde tapped him urgently on the shoulder. "Liebhan, pull over, I'm carsick!"  
  
All thoughts of virility fled from his mind as he pulled over and practically shoved Hilde out of the car and then held her while she doubled over and retched.  
  
"Sorry," she said, gasping. "It just hit me out of nowhere."  
  
"It's okay," said Duo. He helped her back into the car.  
  
"We're almost there, hang on a little longer."  
  
Hilde nodded. "I'll be alright now, I'm just a little excited."  
  
Duo reached over and rubbed her arm. "I'm a little excited too," he admitted.  
  
"Are you thinking about black garter belts again?" Hilde asked him coyly.  
  
"Uh, yeah, you read my mind, babe." He grinned.  
  
"I'm so glad you liked it," purred Hilde.  
  
"It was definitely memorable," said Duo. "But if I start thinking about that now, I'm not gonna be able to get out of the car for a while."  
  
Hilde laughed. "Think about Colonel Une," she said evilly.  
  
"Okay, that worked," said Duo. "Nothing against Une, but she's my BOSS for gawd's sake. And she's a little scary too."  
  
"There's the house," said Hilde, pointing up ahead.  
  
Quatre's estate was a few miles out in the countryside and was surrounded by a large stone wall and a scrolled iron gate.  
  
Duo drove up the long driveway and punched in the security code at the gate, which automatically changed every week. The heavy gate swung open and he drove through.  
  
The smell of flowers was everywhere. The estate was surrounded by gardens of different varieties.  
  
"It's so beautiful out here," said Hilde dreamily. Duo had put the top down on the car, as it was a warm spring day.  
  
Duo parked the car, and went around to help Hilde out. She was wearing something summery, in a bright soft blue that matched her eyes and gauzy that flowed around her now visible stomach.  
  
"You look pretty," said Duo, giving her a kiss as she stepped out of the car.  
  
"Thanks," she said. "I needed to hear that. I feel sort of clumsy."  
  
"Everyone's going to be jealous of you," said Duo.  
  
Hilde blushed. "Because I'm with you," she said softly.  
  
"I can't wait to see the look on everyone's face when we tell them about the baby," said Duo.  
  
"You just like being the center of attention," said Hilde linking her arm in his as they came onto the veranda and the huge double doors of the mansion opened.  
  
"True," said Duo, grinning.  
  
Quatre was standing there with Trowa and he held out his arms. "You're finally here!" he said, taking a few steps forward and embracing Duo tightly.  
  
"Hey, Q-man," grunted Duo, barely able to breathe. He glanced over Quatre's shoulder and Trowa was smiling slightly at them.  
  
Trowa went over to Hilde and offered his arm. "Please come in," he said politely.  
  
Quatre released Duo, who straightened his shirt a little. "I'm glad to see you too, Quatre," he said. "Warn a guy a little, though," he said. "I almost lost a lung there."  
  
"Sorry," said Quatre. "I haven't seen you in months. I got a little carried away."  
  
"I miss you too, Q-man."  
  
Quatre smiled. His crystalline aqua eyes shined. "I see you and Hilde have been keeping a secret from us."  
  
"Aw, man, I wanted it to be surprise," said Duo. "I'm gonna be a dad, Q- man," Duo said in a slightly choked voice.  
  
Quatre hugged him again. "I'm so happy for you," he said, and tears began to run down his face.  
  
"I should have known I couldn't keep anything from you," said Duo.  
  
"I knew it the minute I saw you," said Quatre, sniffling. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"  
  
"Heero knows," said Duo, "He kind of blackmailed it out of me."  
  
"That's our Heero," said Quatre, wiping his eyes on a handkerchief he pulled out of his vest pocket.  
  
"We just wanted to wait until everything was, you know, sure," said Duo.  
  
Quatre nodded. "I understand."  
  
"My sisters have dozens of kids," he said. "I'm Uncle Q around here. I know all about babies and kids and pregnant women. You poor man." He elbowed Duo slightly in the ribs.  
  
"You're swimmin' in the estrogen ocean," said Duo, grinning at him.  
  
Quatre nodded. "Since the day I was born."  
  
"You and Trowa ought to adopt a couple of kids," said Duo. "I mean, if I'm not being too personal. You'd make a great dad. So would Trowa. After all, it can't be that different from taking care of lions."  
  
Quatre laughed. "Something to think about," he said, looking at Duo.  
  
"Hey, Q, when I was in the orphanage, I'd have been lucky to have someone like you want me," said Duo, suddenly serious. "I'd have probably turned out a lot better too."  
  
Quatre teared up again. "I'd have been lucky to find a kid like you," he said quietly.  
  
"Now don't turn on the waterworks again," said Duo, patting him on the shoulder.  
  
"I'll try," said Quatre. He sniffled and used his handkerchief again.  
  
"Let's go see everyone," said Quatre. "They're all out back in the gazebo. We're having the party there; it's so beautiful outside. I love the flowers, they're all blooming now."  
  
Hilde was sitting with her feet up on a small wicker hassock, in large padded wicker chair in the gazebo, and Sally, Relena and Catherine, plus about half a dozen of Quatre's sisters where sitting in a circle around her.  
  
"I can't believe you didn't tell us you're pregnant," said Sally, taking a long sip of something with lemons floating in it.  
  
"I'm only 4 months along," protested Hilde. "It just now shows."  
  
"Ooh, can I?" said Trista, one of Quatre's sisters, blond as he was but with dark eyes, sliding off of her chair and kneeling in front of Hilde. She reached out a hand tentatively to touch Hilde's barely protruding stomach.  
  
"I guess so," said Hilde. Trista put her hand lightly on Hilde's stomach. "You're pregnant, all right," she said. "You have a nice little bump there."  
  
Everyone giggled.  
  
"Get used to it," said Almyra, another one of Quatre's sisters, who was dark, sloe eyed and exotic looking. "When I was pregnant, my belly became community property. Everyone wants to touch a pregnant woman's belly for some reason. I felt like a fresh loaf of bread sometimes."  
  
Hilde nodded, "Duo can't seem to stop touching my stomach," she said, then blushed a little.  
  
"Being pregnant makes you sexy," said Almyra, "But I bet you already know that," she winked.  
  
"Almyra, you're embarrassing her," said Trista, still sitting at Hilde's feet.  
  
"You have to forgive Almyra," said Trista, "She was born without the ability to be tactful. Plus she's a sex fiend."  
  
"Yes, I am," purred Almyra, "and proud of it."  
  
Everyone laughed again.  
  
"Well, the ladies seem to be getting along well," said Wufei.  
  
He was sitting propped up in a padded wheelchair, his casted leg stretched out in front of him.  
  
He looked great, wearing his customary white silk suit. Duo remembered when he'd found him after his accident and winced internally. At the time, they weren't even sure he'd keep his leg.  
  
"So, how's the leg doing?" said Duo. He handed Wufei a glass of white wine.  
  
"Better every day, Sally tells me," he said. "I'm healing ahead of all expectations."  
  
"That's great," said Duo.  
  
"I'm starting physical therapy soon," said Wufei. "I'll be glad to get out of this thing," he indicated the wheelchair.  
  
"If anyone can do it, you can," said Duo. "You're the toughest guy I know."  
  
"Thank you," said Wufei quietly. "But it was you who kept me going when we thought we were going to die in that OZ cell. You never gave up."  
  
"It's not in me to give up," said Duo, equally serious. "And it's not in you, either."  
  
Wufei nodded. "Congratulations on your child, Duo. You'll be a wonderful father, I'm sure."  
  
Wufei looked faintly wistful, and sat quietly, sipping the wine.  
  
"He's thinking about Meiran again," thought Duo, "Way to go, Duo."  
  
"I'm sorry, man," said Duo, "didn't mean to bring up bad memories."  
  
Wufei shook his head, "It's not what you think, Duo."  
  
He wouldn't elaborate, and Duo knew better than to ask.  
  
Just then, Duo looked up to see a tall blond man and a lithe dark-haired woman coming out of the back entrance of the estate.  
  
"It's Milliardo!" said Relena happily. "I have to go see him," she said apologetically, jumping up.  
  
"Go ahead, Relena," said Quatre, "I'll go over and welcome them with you."  
  
Heero, who was standing next to Duo drinking a beer, made a low sound in his throat.  
  
"Be nice," said Trowa, suddenly standing next to Heero.  
  
"I will if he will," said Heero in a tense voice.  
  
"That's all in the past," said Trowa.  
  
"It's about Relena now," said Duo, nodding at Heero, who was not taking his eyes off of the lovely blond women. She was embracing the tall platinum haired man in a dark navy silk suit, her brother. And then she embraced the dark-haired woman.  
  
They all came over, Relena talking animatedly.  
  
"Good afternoon, Heero, Duo, Trowa, Wufei," said Milliardo suavely, nodding at each one of them in turn.  
  
"Lovely day, isn't it, my dear?" he said to Noin, who was looking striking in a black strapless sundress and a black silk shawl.  
  
Heero grunted and Duo and Trowa each shook his offered hand.  
  
"Don't be standoffish, Heero," said Relena in a slightly pleading voice.  
  
Heero reluctantly offered his hand, deep blue eyes boring into icy blue as they shook hands briefly.  
  
Relena took Heero's arm and they walked off down a cobbled path. Milliardo never took his eyes off of their retreating figures.  
  
"She'll be fine," whispered Noin to him. "Quit being big overprotective brother for one afternoon," she said to Zechs, as she still called him.  
  
Zechs looked down at Noin and smiled briefly. "You're right, my dear, I'm being rather awful, aren't I?" he said lightly. "Let's go try some of Quatre's excellent wines, shall we?"  
  
Noin nodded, exhaling the breath she'd been holding.  
  
"They make a great looking couple, don't they" said Sally, coming over and sitting down by Wufei.  
  
He took her hand and squeezed it.  
  
Duo raised his eyebrows but for once, kept his mouth shut. Trowa smiled faintly at him.  
  
"Sally and the Wu-man, huh?" asked Duo. Trowa nodded.  
  
"She spends a lot of nights here," said Trowa, looking down at Duo through his bangs.  
  
"Ah ha," said Duo, grinning evilly. "About time," he said, nodding.  
  
"She's personally overseeing his recovery," said Trowa with a glint in his green eyes.  
  
"I'll bet," said Duo.  
  
"You have a dirty mind," said Trowa.  
  
"So do you," said Duo.  
  
"True," said Trowa.  
  
"I have to go see if Hilde needs anything," said Duo.  
  
Trowa nodded. "Congratulations," he said.  
  
"Thanks, I'm happy," said Duo.  
  
"You deserve to be," said Trowa.  
  
"You too," said Duo.  
  
Trowa nodded. "I am," he said simply, looking at Quatre, who was holding one of Almyra's daughters on his lap. He whispered something in her ear that made her giggle and turn around and hug him around the neck.  
  
Quatre put her down and she ran off to play with the other children who were running around on the green lawns.  
  
Quatre came over to Duo and Trowa. Trowa bent down and gave him a light kiss on the lips.  
  
"You didn't promise to buy her a puppy again?" asked Trowa, putting his arm around Quatre's waist.  
  
"No, Almrya already threatened to beat me if I did that again," said Quatre.  
  
"I promised to buy her a kitten," he said, grinning.  
  
Trowa groaned. "You're such a sucker," he said.  
  
"Yes, I am, " he said silkily. "But that's why you like me."  
  
"Well, I'm outta here," grinned Duo. "If you two are gonna start talking dirty to each other."  
  
"You should talk!" said Quatre.  
  
"I'm a total hypocrite," said Duo. "I embarrass easily."  
  
Quatre laughed. "Hard to believe."  
  
"It's true," insisted Duo. "I was raised by a bunch of nuns, for God's sake."  
  
"It doesn't show," said Trowa. "In spite of the garb," he added.  
  
Duo looked down at his black shirt with the priest's collar and the silver cross.  
  
"It's a fashion statement," he said quietly and walked off to see Hilde.  
  
"I wonder which face that was?" said Quatre, looking at Duo walking off.  
  
Trowa shrugged and tightened his arm around Quatre. 


	7. Bump In the Night

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Bump in the Night  
  
(AN: Serious WAFF alert. Diabetics beware!)  
  
Duo woke up to a strange, intermittent buzzing noise. He looked at the clock. It was 3:00 a.m.  
  
He looked over at where the sound was coming from. It was Hilde; she was snoring softly in her sleep.  
  
"Roll over babe," he whispered, pushing gently on her shoulder. She half awoke and obeyed, rolling over onto her side. The slight buzzing stopped.  
  
He sighed and looked at Hilde. She was six and a half months along now, and her stomach was about the biggest part of her. She was such a little thing anyway, he thought.  
  
He reached over curiously and rubbed his hand firmly along her burgeoning abdomen. He almost jumped when he felt a strong answering kick to his caress.  
  
He'd felt tiny flutters here and there when Hilde would put his hand on her stomach, or embrace her, but this was and strong and definite KICK.  
  
He rubbed her stomach in the same place and felt another answering kick against his palm.  
  
"Hilde!" he said, shaking her shoulder. He was excited. "The kid, he just kicked my hand. I mean, he kicked it hard! Your stomach, it bounced!"  
  
"I know, I felt it," said Hilde drowsily. "Why are you playing with my belly at this hour of the night?"  
  
"Hilde, this is freakin me out! There's a person in there and he just kicked my hand!"  
  
"Well, what did you think was in there?" Hilde asked, opening her eyes. Duo had a stunned look on his face.  
  
"I don't know, it just seems so real now," he said quietly.  
  
"Duo, you've seen the baby on sonograms," she said, "We even know he's a boy. You're a funny guy, you know that?" She chuckled and reached over and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.  
  
Duo leaned over and put his cheek on Hilde's stomach and began to rub slow circles around her navel.  
  
"Hi in there, little guy," said Duo. Hilde giggled and her stomach shook against Duo's mouth.  
  
He'd been doing this for several months now. He'd read in one of those books they'd gotten that a baby will recognize his mother and father's voice at birth and he insisted on these conversations with "the little guy" as he called the baby.  
  
Hilde was a little surprised at Duo reading all the baby books. He wasn't the kind to sit around and read much of anything. He rarely even read the newspaper.  
  
Duo continued. "I know you're in there," he said, "and I just want you to know that we're all waiting for you to come out and see us. There's Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Quatre, he's the one you can feel when he puts his hand on Mom's tummy, and then Uncle Trowa, the quiet one, and Uncle Heero; he'll be the guy with a gun in his hand yelling 'Omae o korusu!' And then there's Uncle Wufei. He's a little grumpy sometimes, but you'll like him."  
  
"Duo!" said Hilde, giggling.  
  
"Well," said Duo. "I want him to get to know everyone."  
  
"I think he will know everyone soon enough."  
  
"They're my family," said Duo stubbornly. "We're all orphans, even Quatre now. We have to work harder at this family stuff than other people. I just want the kid to know he has a family. He's not gonna be alone like I was."  
  
Hilde heard the catch in Duo's voice at that, and she sat up. "Duo, I know how you feel, remember? You're all I have now too."  
  
He had his head turned away, and Hilde knew he was crying by the rigid way he held his body.  
  
She put her arms around him, pressing herself against his bare back.  
  
The baby gave a sudden kick against Duo's back and he turned around, tears still running down his face.  
  
"Did you feel that?" he asked in a teary voice, wiping his eyes on the back of his arm.  
  
She nodded. "Of course, silly." She said it gently.  
  
"I think he misses you talking to him," said Hilde, laying back down and rubbing her stomach.  
  
"Hi Solo," said Duo, putting his mouth down close to Hilde's stomach.  
  
"Solo?" said Hilde.  
  
"If it's all right with you, I want that to be his name," said Duo.  
  
"It's a wonderful name," said Hilde, her eyes shining with tears now.  
  
"Solo," said Duo, "But you're not going to be alone."  
  
Hilde nodded. "No, he won't." She yawned widely in spite of herself.  
  
"It's all right, babe, go back to sleep," said Duo, putting his head next to Hilde's stomach and gently stroking it with his hand.  
  
"You have no idea how good that feels," said Hilde drowsily.  
  
"Good night, Solo," said Duo. "I'll be seeing you soon, little guy." 


	8. Lavender Bubbles LIME

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 8  
  
Lavender Bubbles  
  
(AN: Lime alert!)  
  
Dr. Lamarr looked over the expanse of Hilde's stomach.  
  
"I want you to come every week now," she said to Hilde. "Your baby is due in about 4 weeks, so we're going to be keeping close watch on you. Although I have to say, this has been a wonderfully uneventful pregnancy. That's the best kind to have."  
  
"Uneventful." Hilde thought that was the least most appropriate word for being pregnant she could think of at the moment.  
  
"Can you tell me how big the baby will be?" said Hilde. She still had no idea how 7 or 8 lbs of baby was going to emerge from her, although all the books said it was completely possible.  
  
"Seems pretty average, from what I can tell," said Dr. Lamarr, smiling down at her. "You're probably thinking it seems impossible but I can assure you, it will happen. Everything stretches, believe me."  
  
"Ouch," said Duo, sitting in a chair next to Hilde and holding her hand.  
  
"I didn't say it wouldn't hurt," said Dr. Lamarr, chuckling a little.  
  
"And that reminds me, you two have been going to childbirth classes, haven't you? I highly recommend it. Even if you want anesthesia, I still think it's a good idea to know exactly what will happen at the birth."  
  
Hilde rolled her eyes. Duo had been his usual irrepressible self at the childbirth classes. She still blushed and grinned to remember what he'd done with the anatomical model of a woman giving birth and a rubber chicken after class.  
  
Of course, the other expectant fathers and some of the mothers thought he was hilarious. The instructor had almost threatened to ban him from more classes until he had turned on the charm and apologized.  
  
"Yes, we've been going once a week," said Duo, being a good boy.  
  
"I heard about the rubber chicken," said Dr. Lamarr. "I hope it will not be present at the actual birth."  
  
"Uh, no," said Duo. "Just a little joke," he said sheepishly.  
  
"Very little," said Dr. Lamarr, but her eyes twinkled behind her glasses at Duo.  
  
"I think I'd like to try having the baby without drugs," said Hilde.  
  
Duo looked surprised, "You mean I'm gonna have to watch you scream and carry on?" he said.  
  
"I won't scream and carry on," said Hilde. "I think I can do it."  
  
"Know that the option is always open to have an anesthetic," said Dr. Lamarr. "This isn't about being tough. An epidural has very little effect on the baby if any. And it's almost completely safe."  
  
"I'll remember that," said Hilde.  
  
"Take the epidural!" groaned Duo. "I don't want to see you in pain!"  
  
"Wuss," teased Hilde.  
  
"I am about watching people in pain," he said. "If it were me, well, who cares?"  
  
"I'd care," said Hilde.  
  
"Well, now you know how I feel," said Duo.  
  
"Okay, we'll just see how things go," said Hilde. "I'm not really into pain, I just want to do what's best for the baby."  
  
"Of course you do," said Dr. Lamarr. "That's what we all want."  
  
"You can get up now, Hilde," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
"That's what you think," smirked Duo. Hilde gave him a dirty look.  
  
"Help me up," Hilde said. "And I might forgive you."  
  
He put his arm around her shoulders and hoisted her up into a sitting position.  
  
"I have no lap," mourned Hilde. "I can feel my feet, but I haven't seen them in two months."  
  
"They're still there," Duo said. "It'll all be over soon."  
  
"I snore, my ankles are swollen, my belly button has turned inside out and I'm as big as a house," said Hilde, sounding as though she might burst in to tears.  
  
"I know," he said, "I'm sorry."  
  
"Women often get a little depressed late in pregnancy," said Dr. Lamarr soothingly. "It's normal."  
  
"I'm so tired of everyone telling me it's normal!" cried Hilde.  
  
"It's okay babe, I'll take you home," said Duo soothingly.  
  
"I wanna have the baby NOW!" cried Hilde.  
  
Duo looked at Dr. Lamarr and shrugged.  
  
"Only four more weeks give or take a few days," said Dr. Lamarr. "You'll make it. Go home and take a nice warm bath and get a nap. I know you're probably not getting enough sleep."  
  
"Yeah, babe, you're just tired," Duo said to a sniffling Hilde.  
  
Duo slipped his arm under her knees and one around her waist and lifted her into his arms.  
  
"Put me down!" said a rather embarrassed Hilde.  
  
"See, you're not so huge," he said, setting her gently on her feet.  
  
Dr. Lamarr grinned. "Take her home and put her to bed. Doctor's orders."  
  
"But I have so many things to do to get ready for the baby," protested Hilde.  
  
"Do it later," growled Duo. "You heard the doctor."  
  
Hilde nodded resignedly.  
  
"Okay, you can quit ganging up on me, I'll be good," she said.  
  
Duo helped Hilde get into the car and drove her home.  
  
"You're really going to take a bath and go to bed," he said to her. "I wasn't kidding about that."  
  
"All right, DAD," said Hilde, smiling a little.  
  
"I'm practicing," he said, grinning back at her.  
  
"You're going to be a good dad," she said to him.  
  
"I hope so," he said, now serious.  
  
"You take awfully good care of me," said Hilde. "You always have."  
  
Duo swallowed. "I only did what I wanted to do. When I first saw you I thought, 'Now there's one tough girl.' But then I found out you're pretty sweet too. And not quite as tough as you think you are."  
  
"I'm not very tough right now," whispered Hilde.  
  
"You heard the doc," said Duo. "You don't have to be tough right now."  
  
Hilde sighed loudly and put her head back.  
  
Before they got home, she was asleep in the car.  
  
He went and unlocked the door and opened it, then carried her inside and laid her on the sofa.  
  
She murmured in her sleep a little as Duo covered her with a blanket.  
  
"I gotta go do sumthin," he whispered, kissing her on the cheek.  
  
He went over to the vidphone and called Quatre.  
  
"Q-man!" he whispered, not wanting to wake Hilde.  
  
"What's going on, Duo?" Quatre said, frowning at him. He was in his office, tie loosened around his neck and ran his hands through his shaggy blond bangs.  
  
"I need your help, buddy," Duo whispered.  
  
"Are you in trouble?" asked Quatre, suddenly alert.  
  
"Sort of," replied Duo. "I need a Hilde cheer-up and fast."  
  
"A 'Hilde cheer-up'?" repeated Quatre.  
  
"Yeah, she's all depressed and I need to do sumthin to cheer her up."  
  
" I see," said Quatre. "And I am some sort of expert on this subject?"  
  
"Well, you're the sensitive guy who knows all the right things to say and do when someone's upset," said Duo.  
  
"I am?" asked Quatre.  
  
"Yeah," said Duo. "You are."  
  
"Oh," said Quatre.  
  
There was silence for a few seconds.  
  
"Well?" asked Duo finally.  
  
"I'm thinking," said Quatre.  
  
Duo started to twitch, playing with the end of his braid, twirling it around his neck and then tickling his cheek with it.  
  
"Have you tried flowers?" asked Quatre.  
  
"Yep," said Duo. "I tried that last week."  
  
"Chocolates?"  
  
Yep," said Duo. "She cried after she ate the whole box about how huge she's getting."  
  
He sighed.  
  
"Jewelry?"  
  
"Her fingers are so puffy, she can't even wear her wedding ring!" said Duo.  
  
"Lingerie?"  
  
"PULEEZE!" exclaimed Duo.  
  
"How about a poem?" asked Quatre, finally.  
  
"A poem?" Duo squeaked.  
  
"Yes, you know what a poem is, surely?" asked Quatre.  
  
"Yeah, it's supposed to rhyme, right?" asked Duo, uncertainly.  
  
"Forget it," groaned Quatre.  
  
"Hey, Quatre, why don't YOU write Hilde a poem?" asked Duo, a glint coming to his eyes.  
  
"Me?" asked Quatre.  
  
"Just pretend it's Trowa," Duo said encouragingly.  
  
"I can't do THAT!" said Quatre indignantly.  
  
"I know she doesn't look anything like Trowa..." began Duo.  
  
"It's not THAT!" exclaimed Quatre. "It'd be dishonest!"  
  
"Oh," said Duo. "I suppose."  
  
"Duo, you're going to have to think of something yourself, I'm busy!" said Quatre. "Good-bye, Duo!" he ended the connection.  
  
"Who was that on the vidphone?" asked Hilde in a sleepy voice.  
  
"Uh, nobody, just Quatre," Duo answered her.  
  
"What did he want?" asked Hilde.  
  
"Well, I called him," admitted Duo.  
  
"About what?" Hilde persisted.  
  
Duo sat down on the end of the sofa. "I just wanted to ask him sumthin," he said. "No big deal."  
  
"Duo?" asked Hilde. "Could you help me up? I'm going to take a bath."  
  
"Want some help?" he asked her, taking her hand and helping her up off the sofa.  
  
"Okay," Hilde said, giving him a sleepy smile.  
  
He went in the bathroom and turned on the water, testing it with his hand. Looking around on the shelves, he found some lavender-scented bubble bath and poured some in.  
  
When he turned around, Hilde was nude. His eyes traveled over her body.  
  
"Wow," he breathed. "You're so beautiful."  
  
She blushed. "When you look at me like that, I almost believe it."  
  
"You are, though," he said.  
  
He began to take off his shirt.  
  
Hilde laughed, "I suppose we're going to conserve water again."  
  
"That's right," said Duo mischievously. "It's all about conservation."  
  
He stripped off and got in the bathtub. "Come here," he said holding out his hand.  
  
Hilde came over and Duo helped her into the bathtub in front of him.  
  
She leaned back against his chest.  
  
She noticed that he'd turned down the lights.  
  
"This is nice," she said.  
  
He began to massage her shoulders.  
  
"How's this"?" he asked.  
  
She nodded blissfully.  
  
After kneading her shoulders for a few minutes, he worked his way down her back.  
  
"How about here?" he asked.  
  
She nodded, moaning a little with pleasure.  
  
He pressed his thumbs into the small of her back.  
  
"Here?" he asked.  
  
"That's the spot," she whispered.  
  
He made little circles with his thumbs.  
  
"Ahh, that's wonderful," sighed Hilde.  
  
"Feeling better?" Duo asked in her ear.  
  
"Yes," she breathed.  
  
"Lean back," he whispered.  
  
He reached around and ran his hands lightly over her belly, making large circles.  
  
She sighed. "Feels good," she murmured.  
  
"How about this?" he purred, bringing his hands up to lightly caress her breasts.  
  
"Ooh."  
  
"I'll take that as a 'yes'," he said, kissing her on the back of the neck.  
  
She moaned.  
  
"I don't know about you," he breathed into her hair, "but I'm definitely feeling better."  
  
"I can tell, Liebhan," sighed Hilde, wriggling a little against him.  
  
"Oh, geez, Hilde, don't do that!" he gasped.  
  
"I WANT to do that," she breathed, pulling his arms around her again.  
  
"You're sure?" he asked.  
  
"Oh yes," she moaned, pushing herself up against him and twisting her head around to kiss him.  
  
"And I wanted to get you flowers," he said, running his hands along her sides and down her thighs.  
  
"Lavender will do nicely," she said, putting her hands on his and putting them on her breasts again. 


	9. Solo and Duo

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 9  
  
Solo and Duo  
  
Duo's cell phone rang. He grabbed it and asked, "Hilde?" in an anxious tone.  
  
"This is Heero," said the familiar monotone.  
  
"Heero, can you make it short?" Duo asked, "I need to keep the line open in case Hilde calls. Wait, what am I saying? You're not exactly chatty."  
  
"You're babbling," said Heero.  
  
"I know I'm babbling, but that doesn't mean I can help it!" Duo said. "You'd be insane too if your wife was going to have a baby any second!"  
  
"I doubt it," said Heero. "I'd simply be prepared."  
  
"Liar," said Duo. "You're already the most paranoid person alive."  
  
"Being prepared for every contingency is not paranoid."  
  
"That's the definition of paranoia," argued Duo. "Why am I arguing with you, anyway? Why did you call me?"  
  
Heero paused. "I need your help."  
  
Duo held the phone away from his ear with a look of astonishment on his face, then replaced it, "We must have a bad connection. I thought you just said you needed my help."  
  
"I did," said Heero.  
  
"Has the Apocalypse started?" Duo asked sarcastically. "It must have, because you're asking me to help you. What's next, plagues of boils? Locusts?"  
  
"I need your help with an, um, personal matter." Heero said gruffly.  
  
"You have personal matters?" asked Duo.  
  
"Quit joking, baka, or I'll come up to your office, rip your arm off and shove it up your...."  
  
"Ah, now there's the Heero I know and love," said Duo, grinning. "So, go ahead, shoot. Wait, let me rephrase that."  
  
"I need you to ask Hilde to ask Relena what she would like for her birthday."  
  
"Is that it?" asked Duo. "A birthday present?"  
  
"Relena is..a difficult person for whom to buy a gift," said Heero hesitantly.  
  
"That's because she has everything!" said Duo. "So you're not gonna find it in a shopping mall, that's for sure."  
  
"I know," Heero sounded depressed. Depressed for Heero that is. It was hard to tell.  
  
"So, you want me to do a little spying for you?" asked Duo silkenly.  
  
"Yes, if you want to put it that way," Heero replied reluctantly.  
  
"Mission accepted," said Duo, smirking and firing off a mock salute.  
  
"Not funny," said Heero.  
  
"Will achieve secret information from source and report back to 01 in approximately 24 standard hours," said Duo, milking the joke.  
  
"You're pissing me off," said Heero.  
  
"I know," said Duo, pressing "end".  
  
He dialed home.  
  
"Hello?" said a strained female voice that Duo barely recognized. The hair on the back of his neck stood up.  
  
"Hilde?" he gasped, "Is that you?"  
  
"Yes, Duo, I've been trying to call you," she said, panting. "I think the baby is coming!"  
  
"I'll be there as fast as I can," he said, "Hang on! I'll leave the connection open."  
  
He sped out of the building and jumped into his car, leaving rubber in the parking lot as he left.  
  
"Hilde! Still there, babe?"  
  
"Yes!" she said. "I think I'll be okay until you get here."  
  
"I'm on my way," he said, weaving in and out of traffic expertly. "Trying to beat all the lights."  
  
He suddenly heard the wail of a siren behind him. "SHIT!"  
  
He sped up. "Not NOW!" he cried, hitting the wheel with his fist.  
  
The cop pulled up beside him and motioned him over. Duo shook his head.  
  
The cop pointed at Duo and then to the side again.  
  
Duo flashed his Preventor's I.D.  
  
The policeman nodded and waved him on.  
  
Duo heaved a sigh of relief. "Une's gonna love that," he muttered under his breath.  
  
"Duo, did I hear a siren?" asked Hilde's voice on the phone.  
  
"No," lied Duo. "Must have been the TV."  
  
"I don't have the TV on," said Hilde.  
  
"Maybe it was the neighbors," Duo suggested.  
  
"You're lying, Duo!" said Hilde. He heard a groan.  
  
"I'm coming as fast as I can!" he yelled into the phone.  
  
"I called Dr. Lamarr," said Hilde. "She's expecting us at the hospital. She said not to worry, first babies take a long time, usually."  
  
"Be our luck to not be usual," said Duo under his breath.  
  
"What?" said Hilde.  
  
"I'll be there in 5 minutes."  
  
"Good," said Hilde. "I'm scared."  
  
"Don't be scared, Hilde."  
  
"I'm trying," she said tearily. He could hear her trying to control her breathing over the phone.  
  
"Almost there," he said turning onto their street.  
  
He screeched into the driveway. Jumping out of the car, he ran inside. He was glad they lived on the ground floor.  
  
Hilde opened the door before he could take out his key.  
  
She had a small bag in her hand.  
  
"I'm ready," she said.  
  
He grabbed her and held her tightly. "Well, I'm not," he said, "Now I'm scared. Are you sure it's not another false alarm?"  
  
"I don't think so," she said, "this feels different."  
  
He nodded. "Let's go."  
  
"I don't wanna have the baby yet!" wailed Hilde.  
  
"Get in the car or I'll pick you up and put you in myself!" Duo yelled, his frayed nerves finally snapping.  
  
"Okay," said Hilde meekly, for once.  
  
"I'm sorry," said Duo. "I'm a little nervous."  
  
He took the bag and led her to the car.  
  
She sat in the leather seat and then suddenly put her head down, panting a little.  
  
"What was that?" asked Duo, his eyes widening.  
  
"A pain," Hilde said, " I tried to time it and I think they're coming every 5 minutes or so."  
  
"Judas Priest!" swore Duo. "We gotta get going!"  
  
He ripped out of the driveway, sending gravel flying everywhere.  
  
"Don't kill us on the way there!" exclaimed Hilde.  
  
"Don't tell me how to drive, woman, and I won't tell you how to have a baby!" he yelled.  
  
"You sound like Wufei," she pouted.  
  
Duo, focused on his driving, said nothing, gritting his teeth.  
  
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the emergency entrance of the Preventor's Hospital.  
  
Sally Po was waiting there. Duo was immensely relieved to see a familiar face.  
  
"I'm on emergency duty this week," said Sally to Duo, "I had a feeling we might be seeing you two." She smiled at Duo reassuringly. A nurse brought up a wheelchair and they helped Hilde gingerly into it.  
  
"Dr. Lamarr is on her way," said Sally, "But until then, I'll keep an eye on you, Hilde. There's no reason to be anxious."  
  
Hilde nodded. "I just wish this was all over!" she said to Sally.  
  
"By tonight, you'll have your Solo," said Sally, smiling again. Her clear blue eyes were alight with excitement. "I'll call Wufei and tell him I'm staying with you, if you want."  
  
"I need to call everyone!" said Duo.  
  
"That can wait," said Dr. Lamarr, coming up behind them. "Your job now is to stay with Hilde."  
  
"I'll have Wufei do it," said Sally. "He's stuck at his desk at Headquarters anyway. He's still on limited duty. He's always griping nothing exciting ever happens. This will make his day. Excuse me, I'll be right back."  
  
She left; her long honey colored hair swinging behind her in two French braids.  
  
"I'm glad I'm making Wufei's day," said Hilde. She tried to laugh and ended up moaning as another pain hit her.  
  
"Lets get you settled in," said Dr. Lamarr, taking charge. "We have a birthing room all ready for you."  
  
They followed Dr. Lamarr down the hallway and stopped, pushing the doors open.  
  
"It looks like a motel room," said Duo.  
  
"We try to make this all as non-medical as possible," said Dr. Lamarr. "After all, having a baby isn't an illness."  
  
"Where is the medical stuff?" asked Hilde.  
  
"In the cabinets," said Dr. Lamarr. "Don't worry about that."  
  
"Make yourself at home, Duo," she said, "You're going to be here awhile."  
  
She indicated a recliner and there was even a television set.  
  
Dr. Lamarr and a nurse helped Hilde into a hospital gown.  
  
"Sorry dear, no undies," said Dr. Lamarr. "You've surrendered your modesty at the door."  
  
Duo snickered.  
  
"NO laughing," Hilde said indignantly.  
  
"I want to get a monitor on you, Hilde," said Dr. Lamarr. "We'll monitor the contractions and the baby's heart. It's all done by radio signal, so you can move around all you want."  
  
She held up two elastic belts with small devices on them, put them around Hilde's belly and fastened them. Right away, they could faintly hear the rhythm of a fast heartbeat.  
  
"I can turn up the sound," said Dr.Lamarr. "Most people find it comforting to listen to."  
  
Hilde nodded and then squeezed her eyes shut as another wave of pain started.  
  
"Getting a little stronger," said Dr. Lamarr looking at the monitor.  
  
"See that peak on the graph? That's the peak of the contraction, and then it goes down again. Like an ocean wave. It looks like they're about 5 minutes apart and about a minute long." "How long will it be?" said Hilde, panting a little. She was starting to sweat.  
  
"I really can't say, everyone is different," said the doctor.  
  
"And I haven't checked you yet, so I don't know how dilated you are," she added.  
  
Hilde groaned. "I hate this part, " she muttered.  
  
Dr. Lamarr laughed. "You'd be odd if you liked it," she chuckled.  
  
"Do you want me to leave?" asked Duo.  
  
"Only if Hilde does," said the doctor. "But, pretty soon, you're gonna see a whole lot more, so I don't see what difference it makes. That is, if you want to be here when the kid is born."  
  
"I do," said Duo. "Is it okay if I puke or faint?"  
  
"No," said Dr. Lamarr shortly. "Puking and fainting not allowed. Weaklings must go outside."  
  
"You sound like a friend of mine named Wufei," complained Duo.  
  
"I like him already," said Dr. Lamarr. "Is he that young man Dr. Po is engaged to?"  
  
"Yeah," said Duo. "I forgot you know Sally."  
  
"She's a good surgeon, although we don't work together that much," said Dr. Lamarr. "A very good person, too, from what I can tell."  
  
"My ears are burning," said Sally, sliding open the door a little. "I'm barging in, is that all right, Hilde?"  
  
"Please," said Hilde, grabbing the rails on the bed as another pain began.  
  
"My shift is over for today, so I can stay with you if you want," said Sally.  
  
Hilde's eyes were far away, distracted by the sensations in her body, but she nodded vaguely.  
  
"Wow, that was a good one!" said Dr. Lamarr, looking at the monitor. "I bet you felt that!"  
  
Hilde gave the doctor a vaguely crusty look and let out a big breath.  
  
"We need to check you now, and see where you're at."  
  
Hilde nodded reluctantly. "Come hold my hand," she said to Duo.  
  
He went and stood at the head of the bed, and held her hand tightly.  
  
"This might hurt a little," said Dr. Lamarr. Hilde yelped. Duo grimaced and turned his head.  
  
"Hey, you're almost halfway there!" said Dr. Lamarr, sounding vaguely like a cheerleader. "Four centimeters!"  
  
The nurse nodded and smiled. "When you get to ten, we get to have a baby!" she cooed at Hilde.  
  
"Why is everyone talking to me like I'm an imbecile all of a sudden?" Hilde moaned.  
  
"Sorry," said Dr. Lamarr, laughing. "Bad habit."  
  
"Well, patients in pain tend to get a little child-like sometimes," said the nurse, whose nametag said Lara on it.  
  
"Not there yet," grunted Hilde, feeling another wave of pain pass through her abdomen, starting in her pelvis and threading upwards, then back down again.  
  
"I've been worse pain than this," she gritted through her teeth.  
  
"No talking during contractions, dear,' said Lara. "You need your oxygen."  
  
Hilde shot the nurse a crusty look too, but was quiet. She exhaled loudly as the pain diminished.  
  
"Yes," said Dr. Lamarr, "but we're not even half done."  
  
She grinned. "I have to check another patient, but Lara will be staying with you and I assume Sally and Duo will be here. You're doing great, Hilde. Lara will page me in a little while to check you again."  
  
Hilde nodded. She was just glad to be done with another contraction.  
  
"Get Mr. Maxwell a cold washcloth," said Dr. Lamarr to Lara. "He can help you keep her cooled down. Having a baby is hard work. They don't call it labor for nothing."  
  
She turned to leave, checking the chart she had in her hand and placing it in a slot near the door as she departed.  
  
Lara disappeared into the adjoining bath and came out with a small basin of cold water and a washcloth.  
  
"Here," she handed them to Duo. "Get busy, Dad." She grinned at him.  
  
"I make a crappy nurse," said Duo.  
  
"You'll get better, I promise," said Lara.  
  
"Are you hot?" Duo asked Hilde, feeling her forehead solicitously.  
  
She nodded. He could feel her sweating under his palm and took the cloth and wringing it out, put it on her forehead and then her cheeks.  
  
"Feels good," she said, panting.  
  
She reached up and clenched his hand as another pain hit.  
  
She was squeezing his hand very hard and he looked down and his fingers were turning blue.  
  
A little moan accompanied the cresting of the pain.  
  
"Maybe you should get something for the pain," suggested Duo, flexing his fingers as she gradually released them.  
  
"I'm fine," she rasped. "Can I have some water?"  
  
"You can have a little ice," said the nurse. "Sucking on ice chips will help your thirst without making you nauseous."  
  
Hilde nodded. "Thank you."  
  
"Can I do sumthin?" Duo asked.  
  
"Rub my shoulders," said Hilde. "It'll distract me."  
  
He began to lightly massage her shoulders and arms.  
  
"Too bad we don't have lavender bubble bath," he said, winking at her as she looked back at him.  
  
"That's the furthest thing from my mind right now!" murmured Hilde. "You're never touching me again, you realize that, don't you?"  
  
He pouted. "Man, a little pain and all of a sudden, I'm a eunuch."  
  
"That's right," groaned Hilde, reaching up again to squeeze his hand.  
  
"Another one?" he asked, squeezing her hand back. She simply closed her eyes and didn't respond for a minute.  
  
"Big contraction, Hilde," said Lara. "That baby will be here in no time. You're doing very well for a first baby."  
  
Sally nodded, "Usually, it takes a bit longer than this. You're lucky."  
  
"I don't feel very lucky right now," said Hilde in a breathless voice.  
  
"Once you get to about 7 centimeters," said Lara, "it's like a runaway train."  
  
"Then you hit transition, when the baby comes down between your pelvic bones and that's when things get really wild, and then before long, you'll have to push."  
  
"Wild?" echoed Duo.  
  
"Yes," said Sally. "Transition is the most intense phase of labor. The sensations can be a little overwhelming. Some women kind of loose it," she looked at Hilde.  
  
"Sounds like fun," Hilde grunted in a faintly sarcastic tone.  
  
"Doesn't last long, fortunately," said Lara.  
  
"What do you mean, 'wild'?" asked Duo again.  
  
"One woman threw things at her husband," laughed Lara. "A lot of women swear and yell and some just feel like giving up. I've had a few patients try to get dressed and go home. One lady started laughing hysterically."  
  
"Okay," said Duo. "I get it."  
  
"I've seen soldiers in pain get a little weird," he said.  
  
"Same thing," said Lara. "Something happens to your brain when your nervous system overloads."  
  
A nurse came to the door and put her head in, "Dr. Po, your fiancé is here and some other people. They want to know how Mrs. Maxwell is progressing."  
  
"I'll talk to them," said Sally to the nurse, who nodded and stepped back out into the hallway.  
  
"I'll be right back," she said, "I'm going to go fill everyone in."  
  
Sally went down to the waiting area of maternity and there was Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa.  
  
"How is Hilde?" asked Quatre, standing up.  
  
"She's doing very well, actually," said Sally. "Pretty fast for a first baby, I'm surprised. You're still going to be here awhile," she said.  
  
"It'll be a few hours at least."  
  
She went over to Wufei and sat down next to him. "This could get pretty boring," she warned them.  
  
"I know," said Quatre. "I've waited around a long time for my nieces and nephews to be born." He shrugged. "I'm used to it."  
  
"Hilde is tough, no anesthetic," said Sally.  
  
"She is very brave," said Wufei.  
  
"For a woman, you mean," said Trowa, raising an eyebrow at him.  
  
"No, that's not what I meant," said Wufei. "I don't know where everyone gets this idea that I think women are weak," he complained.  
  
"Because you're always saying it?" suggested Trowa.  
  
"I never said that!" Wufei declared indignantly. Sally grinned.  
  
"He once told me that weak people shouldn't fight," said Sally, "But he never said all women are weak. At least not to me."  
  
"See, I told you," said Wufei, folding his arms.  
  
"I happen to like some women," he said.  
  
"I hope so," said Sally dryly. "You're marrying one."  
  
Trowa held up his hands in surrender. "I humbly apologize," he said smiling faintly.  
  
Sally leaned over and gave Wufei a light kiss on his cheek. "I promised Hilde I'd stay with her through this, so I have to go back. But, we'll get dinner later, okay?" Wufei nodded. "I'm going to take a walk," he got up and headed towards the exit.  
  
"Hospitals aren't exactly his favorite place," said Sally to Trowa and Quatre.  
  
"Mine neither," said Quatre, "Although this is a better reason than most to be here."  
  
Sally nodded. "A happy occasion for a change."  
  
"Maybe there will be more," said Quatre. "I wouldn't mind seeing a little Wufei or Sally running around in a year or so.  
  
Sally blushed. "We'll see. I have to get back to Hilde."  
  
"I'll get you some tea," said Trowa as Quatre sat down again with a book.  
  
"Would you, love?" said Quatre, folding his legs up under him on the couch and opening his book.  
  
Trowa wandered off to the cafeteria to find tea.  
  
Sally went back into Hilde's room.  
  
"I'm back," she said, quickly shutting the door.  
  
"Good!" said Duo. Hilde was holding tightly onto his hand on one side, and Lara's on the other, gritting her teeth.  
  
"Things are getting good, Dr. Po!" said Lara chirpily.  
  
"Shut her UP!" said Hilde through clenched jaws.  
  
Lara just laughed. "They often get this way," she said airily, patting Hilde's back with her other hand. "I warned you," she said to Duo, who was looking a bit pale.  
  
"Maybe we ought to page Dr. Lamarr?" asked Sally, looking at Hilde's monitor readings. "These contractions are only a minute apart!"  
  
"Yes, it's time to check her again," said Lara. "Go ahead and page the doctor, please. I was going to do it as soon as this contraction ended."  
  
Sally went over to the intercom and punched in a few numbers. "I need Dr. Lamarr in Birthing Suite number 2," she said into the intercom. She nodded at the reply. "Dr. Lamarr is on her way," said Sally, coming back over to the bed.  
  
"AHH!" said Hilde, squeezing her eyes shut and pulling up her knees.  
  
"Don't push!" warned Lara, "At least until Dr. Lamarr gets here and checks you. You could tear!"  
  
Duo winced for about the 39th time that day.  
  
Dr. Lamarr came striding into the room and went over to Hilde, "All right, Hilde" she said in a calm tone. "I need to see where you are, and then we'll go from there."  
  
She pulled back the sheet covering Hilde's knees and quickly pulled on a glove. "Take a deep breath."  
  
"Ah, I can feel a head," she said. "You have made progress. 9 centimeters! And only in 3 hours! You might want to bear down, but pant through it, we need just a bit more dilation." Dr. Lamarr told her. "One or two more contractions should do it."  
  
Just then, a warm gush of fluid pooled underneath Hilde's bottom. "Water broke" announced Lara. "It's clear," she added, looking at Dr. Lamarr.  
  
"Great," said the doctor. "That means your baby isn't having any distress nor is there any bleeding."  
  
"Come on Hilde," said Sally, grabbing her hand. "Let's do this!" Another contraction hit and Hilde started to pant like she'd been told. Duo held her other hand and kept wiping Hilde's face and neck with the cold washcloth.  
  
"I feel like an idiot" he muttered to Sally. "I'm not doing anything!" He grimaced as Hilde put a death grip on his hand and started to make a low keening sound.  
  
Hilde stopped moaning and panting and took a deep shuddering breath.  
  
"I HAVE to push!" she announced. Dr. Lamarr looked down again.  
  
"Go ahead, kid, give it hell!" she said grinning, putting on a fresh pair of gloves and placing a stool at the bottom of the bed between Hilde's knees.  
  
Lara grabbed one of Hilde's bent knees and Sally the other, and Duo put his hands on her shoulders.  
  
"Okay, next contraction, I want you to push down through your bottom as hard as you can," said Dr. Lamarr. "Take a deep breath and hold it during the push, and then let it out when it's over."  
  
A primeval grunt came from Hilde's throat in a few seconds and she took a deep breath. "Okay, push," said Dr. Lamarr. Sally and Lara pushed Hilde's knees gently up to her chest.  
  
Dr. Lamarr counted to ten. "And, that's good," she said, nodding. "The baby came down a good centimeter. Let's do that about ten more times."  
  
The next half hour was the same, a loud grunt, a deep breath, and Dr. Lamarr counting the length of the pushes and everyone cheering Hilde on quietly.  
  
"Come on, Hilde," said Sally, "We're so close now! Duo come over here, you can see the baby's head! Look, hair!"  
  
Duo let go of Hilde's hands and went to stand by Sally. "Oh MY GOD!" he said. "Is that it!" He peered down and rubbed his eyes, then looked again. "That's gotta hurt!" he said loudly. Hilde, sweating and panting, rolled her eyes at him.  
  
"Sally, why don't you angle the mirror so that Hilde can see her baby being born," asked Dr. Lamarr.  
  
"Time for another push," said Lara, hearing Hilde groan and inhale deeply.  
  
"Stay here, Duo," said Sally, taking his place at Hilde's head. "I want you to see this," she added. Duo nodded, taking Hilde's knee as she pushed against his hands.  
  
"Here's the head," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
Hilde gave a short scream.  
  
"Quit pushing and pant!" ordered Dr. Lamarr. "We want this to be really slow," she explained. "Lara, I need some of that oil there on the tray."  
  
"We'll just help you stretch out a bit, and no tearing, okay?" Dr. Lamarr said soothingly. "I don't like to cut unless I have to."  
  
"There we go," she said, "Next push, and we'll have a head."  
  
Duo's mouth was hanging open. Hilde pushed against his hands, and out slid a baby's head. Dr. Lamarr grabbed a syringe and started to suction the baby's mouth and nose. Duo heard a strange mewling sound like a kitten.  
  
"Fussing already," said Dr. Lamarr. "You're a feisty one!" she gently cradled the baby's head in her hands. "One more, Hilde!" she said.  
  
Another push and the slippery body came halfway out to the hips. "There's more," said Dr. Lamarr, sliding the rest of the baby's body out into her arms.  
  
"And welcome to the planet, Solo Maxwell," she said.  
  
Lara had a drape ready and Dr. Lamarr handed him to her. "Want to cut the cord?" she asked Duo.  
  
"NO!" he said, "That's what you're here for!"  
  
Dr. Lamarr laughed. "I had to ask," she said. "Some people think it's a big deal."  
  
She quickly clamped off the umbilical cord and cut it with a pair of surgical scissors.  
  
"Maybe next time," she joked.  
  
Hilde groaned at the same time Duo did. "You're so evil!" he said to Dr. Lamarr.  
  
"Give the kid to his mother," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
"Here you go," said Lara, "A little messy, but we'll get him cleaned up properly later." She handed the baby to Hilde, putting him across her chest.  
  
Duo peered over her shoulder. A red wrinkly face was scrunched up inside the blanket. "He's all wrinkly," said Duo softly putting out a finger to touch the unbelievably soft cheek. The baby's head turned towards the finger, searchingly.  
  
"You'd be wrinkly too if you were in water for 9 months," said Dr. Lamarr.  
  
"He knows me," said Duo, as the baby's unfocused eyes tried to open at the sound of his voice.  
  
"He does," said Dr. Lamarr. "Newborns can hear pretty well, but he can't see much except big shapes. But he knows his mother by smell. And he knows your voice, Duo."  
  
"And he's hungry too," said Dr. Lamarr, as the baby fussed and rooted around at the touch of a finger on his cheek again.  
  
"Just like his father," said Hilde in a tired voice. "Always hungry."  
  
"Can I hold him?" asked Duo. "I know how," he said. "I held a lot of babies in the orphanage."  
  
"Sure, why don't you hold him while I finish up with Hilde here."  
  
He took the bundle carefully from Hilde's arms and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "You did good, babe," he said softly to her and she kissed him back. She was crying a little, but it was from happiness and relief.  
  
"You're really little, Solo," he said to the baby.  
  
"About 7 lbs, I'd say," said Lara. "We'll weigh him and give him a bath and few other things in a bit," she said. "You just enjoy him for now."  
  
"I will," said Duo. "Sorry I can't do anything about that little hunger problem right now," he said, "but we can talk, just the way we always have."  
  
Solo yawned and waved a fist in the air.  
  
"Let me tell you all about the first Solo." 


	10. Creature of the Night

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 10  
  
Creature of the Night  
  
(AN: You thought it was going to end there? NO! The beatings, um postings, will continue until everyone is happy! Happy I Say! I am the Empress of MUSH!)  
  
"It's sooo good to be home," said Duo. He was lying on the sofa, sprawled out and disheveled.  
  
"God, I need a shower," he moaned.  
  
They were surrounded by packages of disposable diapers, baby furniture and toys.  
  
"It looks like a baby store blew up in here," Hilde said.  
  
"Did Quatre send that rocking horse?" asked Duo.  
  
"Yes, I have no idea where that is going to go," said Hilde, sighing.  
  
"We need a bigger place," said Duo.  
  
"Or less stuff," Hilde sat down next to him.  
  
"A seven pound person has totally taken over our apartment," muttered Duo.  
  
"Let's keep him anyway," he joked.  
  
The seven-pound person began to wail in the next room.  
  
"Room service," said Duo, getting up and going into the baby's room.  
  
"Don't be scared of the evil bunnies," he cooed at Solo, who was flailing his arms and legs around and screaming at the top of his little lungs.  
  
"Just so you know, I did not decorate this room, okay?" he said to Solo, picking him up. "Your mother can arrange for your therapy."  
  
The wailing subsided and was replaced by fussing noises.  
  
"Ooh, someone smells nasty!" said Duo.  
  
"He needs changed," called out Duo.  
  
"Well, do it!" said Hilde. "I know you know how," she said, "probably better than me."  
  
"See what happens when you advertise your skills?" asked Duo to the air.  
  
"Let's see. We have some little tiny diapers here and some of these wet wipes and a toxic waste container here to put the nasty in." He was talking to keep the baby distracted. Solo seemed mesmerized by the sound of Duo's voice.  
  
"EW, little dude," exclaimed Duo, carefully taking off the diaper and cleaning Solo.  
  
He put on a clean diaper and snapped the tiny clothes back on.  
  
"There all set to do it again," said Duo. He picked up the baby and took him out to Hilde.  
  
"The next part is yours," he said, handing the baby to her.  
  
"Unfortunately, I am not a dairy bar on two legs like mom here."  
  
Hilde grinned at him. "MOO," she said.  
  
"But, are you a contented cow?" he teased.  
  
"I am," she said. "Although my house is utter chaos and so is my life."  
  
"I guess we'll get used to it."  
  
"He's kind of a cute kid," said Duo, looking over at the baby who was busy nursing. "He's starting to look less like a gnome."  
  
"What a terrible thing to say!" said Hilde. "He's gorgeous!"  
  
"Who do you think he looks like?" asked Duo, "I think he looks a little like you."  
  
"Me?" said Hilde, "I think he looks like you, definitely!"  
  
"Hard to tell, he doesn't have enough hair yet."  
  
"It's sort of that golden brown color like yours, though," said Hilde thoughtfully, brushing the baby's head with her finger.  
  
"I guess," said Duo. "It's just fuzz."  
  
"He eats like you," said Hilde, grinning. "All the time."  
  
"He has to get bigger so he can play hockey," said Duo.  
  
The doorbell rang. "I'll get it," said Duo, unnecessarily.  
  
Hilde pulled a small blanket over her exposed breast, just in case.  
  
It was Quatre and Trowa. Quatre had a large bouquet of white roses in his arms.  
  
"Come in, if you can get in," said Duo. "It's kind of cramped in here.  
  
"I can see that," said Quatre.  
  
"You need a bigger place," he said.  
  
"Or less stuff," said Trowa.  
  
"Yeah, I know," said Duo, ushering them into the living room.  
  
"Where's the baby?" said Quatre.  
  
"He's under the blanket," said Hilde, "It's the meal before lunchtime time."  
  
"Oh," said Quatre. "I hope we didn't come at a bad time."  
  
"No," said Hilde. "I don't mind if you don't."  
  
A large belch came from under the blanket. "Well, he's done," she said.  
  
Trowa snickered.  
  
Hilde nodded. "No manners, either," she said. "Just like his Dad."  
  
Hilde reached under the blanket and pulled her shirt down. "Want to hold him?" she said to Quatre.  
  
He came over and sat down beside Hilde. "I'd love to," he said, holding out his arms.  
  
"I'll go get us something to drink," said Duo, getting up and going to the kitchen. "And I'll find something to put the flowers in."  
  
Hilde handed him to Quatre. "He looks like Duo." Quatre gazed down at the tiny face.  
  
"That's what I think," said Hilde. "I can't tell what color his eyes are yet. But, they'll probably be some shade of blue."  
  
"Trowa, come here and look," said Quatre. "He's so cute!"  
  
"Baby lions are cuter," said Trowa, but he came over and sat down next to Quatre and looked over his shoulder. "No offense," he said to Hilde, and she grinned back.  
  
"Touch him," said Quatre. "He's really soft."  
  
Trowa reached out one long finger and carefully stroked the baby's head.  
  
"He's very soft," he said quietly. "Like cotton."  
  
"Do you want to try holding him?" asked Hilde.  
  
"I never, I mean, I don't know how," said Trowa.  
  
"I'll show you," said Quatre. "You just make sure his head and neck are supported with one hand, and then hold his little body on the other arm."  
  
He passed the baby over to Trowa, who was holding him like he was a stick of dynamite ready to explode.  
  
"Relax," said Quatre. "You won't break him." Trowa exhaled and shifted the baby against his chest.  
  
"It's nice, isn't it?" said Quatre.  
  
"He smells nice," said Trowa, sniffing.  
  
"He didn't a while ago," said Duo, coming in the room with a cup of tea for Quatre and lemonade for everyone else.  
  
"I'm glad I wasn't here for that," said Trowa.  
  
Solo yawned and stretched snuggled his head against Trowa's chest, then exhaled softly. "I think he's asleep," said Trowa, peering down at his face.  
  
"He likes you," said Duo. "If you can come over at 3:00 a.m. and do the same trick, I'd appreciate it," he joked.  
  
"Uh, no thank you," said Trowa. "But I do like holding him."  
  
Quatre smiled. "You're a natural," he said. "All my sisters kids like you."  
  
"Why do I feel like I'm being set up for something?" asked Trowa, raising an eyebrow, but he smiled briefly back at Quatre.  
  
"I'm not making you do anything against your will," said Quatre, folding his arms.  
  
"No, you're just trying to lure me with irresistible baby cuteness."  
  
"Are you two wanting a kid?" asked Duo. "If I'm not being too nosey."  
  
"Well, we're discussing it," said Quatre.  
  
"There are lots of kids that need a good home," said Quatre. "It's all your fault, Duo, you got me thinking about it at my party a few months ago. I still haven't sold Trowa on the idea, though."  
  
"It's a big change," Trowa said. "I don't know if I'm ready. We have time to think about it."  
  
"Yes, we do," said Quatre quietly.  
  
"See what you started," he said to Duo, but he was smiling.  
  
"Well, if my two cents is worth anything, I think you'd be great parents," said Duo.  
  
"But it is a lot of hard work," he said, "I won't tell you that we're not overwhelmed and exhausted, besides the fact that it costs a fortune. But, I still am glad it happened."  
  
Hilde nodded. "And we're definitely going to have to move," she said, looking around. "We need more room."  
  
Quatre looked up. "I might be able to help you with that."  
  
"I know a lot of people in real estate, and I can probably get you a great deal."  
  
"Really?" said Hilde, "That'd be wonderful. But I don't want you to be inconvenienced."  
  
"No problem," he said, "One of my assistants can handle the whole thing."  
  
He pulled out a cell phone and dialed, then after a few minutes conversation, hung up.  
  
"All set," he said, simply. "I have them call you in a week or so."  
  
"Consider it a baby gift," said Quatre.  
  
"You've already given us so much," said Duo.  
  
"What better things do I have to do but make things easier for someone I care about?" asked Quatre.  
  
"You have plenty to do," said Duo. "But I appreciate it anyway. You're the best, Q-man."  
  
"Well, we have to be going," Trowa said, looking at his watch. "You have an appointment in 30 minutes, koi," he said. He gently handed the baby back to Duo.  
  
"I know it," sighed Quatre, "I need a vacation."  
  
"Yes, you do," said Trowa. "You're starting to get little worry lines."  
  
"Where?" asked Quatre, feeling his face.  
  
"I'm kidding, koi!" said Trowa, bending down slightly to kiss him.  
  
"I'd still love you even if you were wrinkled," he said.  
  
"Good to know," Quatre said, kissing him back.  
  
"Good-bye, Maxwells," said Quatre.  
  
Duo stood up and embraced each one of his friends in turn.  
  
"Come and see us anytime," he said. "We're open 24 hours now."  
  
Quatre chuckled. "I understand."  
  
"See you later," said Trowa, opening the door. The couple left hand in hand.  
  
"Can you imagine?" asked Duo. "Quatre wants to have a kid!"  
  
"Not so hard to imagine," said Hilde. "A lot of people want children. He's the type that usually does, coming from a big family and all."  
  
"They'll work it out," said Duo. "Whaddya want to bet that Trowa'll come around?"  
  
"I think he will too," said Hilde, "When he's ready."  
  
"I guess we didn't have much choice in the matter," said Duo.  
  
"No, but I'm glad we had this thrust upon us, so to speak," said Hilde.  
  
She looked over at Duo who was still holding Solo. He looked so natural that way, she smiled at them.  
  
"What?" asked Duo.  
  
"I'm just thinking what a great daddy you are," said Hilde.  
  
"Did you have any doubts?" asked Duo.  
  
"A few," she replied. "But I think we're doing okay so far."  
  
"A whole week and we're still sane," said Duo wearily. "Whoopee."  
  
"I still need a shower," he said. "I'm all grungy."  
  
"Go ahead," said Hilde. "I'll take him.  
  
"He's asleep," said Duo, "I can just pop him in his crib."  
  
"And, you should get a nap while he's asleep," said Duo.  
  
"I will," said Hilde. "I guess I'm on Solo time, because I sure can't get him to sleep at night."  
  
"I'm going to shower and then hit the sheets too," said Duo.  
  
Hilde went into their bedroom and collapsed on the bed.  
  
The last thing she heard was the shower running before she passed out. 


	11. You are Cordially Invited

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 11  
  
You are Cordially Invited  
  
The cream-colored envelope arrived at Duo and Hilde's new townhouse.  
  
They had finally found a bigger place within their budget, and it even had a small backyard and a garage.  
  
The engraved invitation said, "You are cordially invited to attend the engagement party of Relena Darlian and Heero Yuy."  
  
Duo read that much and whooped loudly, making Solo cry.  
  
"Sorry," he said, as Hilde tried to comfort the startled infant.  
  
"What is it?" asked Hilde.  
  
"It's an invitation to Heero and Relena's engagement party!" he exclaimed. "Can you believe it?"  
  
"Finally!" said Hilde. "Or do you mean you're surprised you were invited?"  
  
Duo gave her a dirty look. "No I mean I wondered if they were ever going to go public."  
  
"I bet old Zechsy is goin nuts," crowed Duo.  
  
"You didn't know before this?" asked Hilde  
  
"I knew he was boinkin' her," said Duo. "I never told you about the night I went over to Heero's and Relena was there. At 4:00 in the morning. Besides, Heero could be plotting the overthrow of the known universe and no one would know."  
  
"'Boinkin'?" repeated Hilde. "You're such a romantic!" she said sarcastically.  
  
"I guess one does not 'boink' the Vice Ambassador," said Duo. "My apologies."  
  
"Maybe I should say he 'completed his mission'" Duo said evilly.  
  
"You're awful!" protested Hilde, laughing uncontrollably now.  
  
Solo had quit crying and was looking at his parents curiously.  
  
"Maybe Sally and Wufei getting married inspired them," said Hilde.  
  
"It was such a nice little wedding," sighed Hilde.  
  
"The party the guys had the night before was a lot better," said Duo, winking.  
  
"I don't want to know what happened, okay?" said Hilde.  
  
"I have pictures suitable for blackmail," said Duo. "Wufei has to be nice to me for the rest of his life."  
  
"I don't want to know," repeated Hilde, putting Solo in a baby swing to entertain him.  
  
"Fraidy cat," taunted Duo.  
  
"Your mother is a 'fraidy cat," he said to Solo, who babbled inanely back at him.  
  
"I am not," said Hilde, "I just don't want to know how stupid Daddy and his friends can be."  
  
The doorbell rang.  
  
Duo went to answer it. "Welcome to baby bedlam," he said to Wufei and Sally, who were on the doorstep.  
  
Hilde came over and gave Sally a quick hug. "I'm so glad you came," she said, "It's going to be nothing fancy, just a backyard barbeque. Trowa and Quatre are coming too."  
  
"Did you get your invitation to Heero and Relena's engagement party?" asked Sally.  
  
"Yes, today," said Hilde. "I guess I shouldn't have been surprised."  
  
"We shall burn meat together, my friend," said Duo to Wufei. "It's a sacred American house-warming ceremony."  
  
"Sounds frightening," said Wufie in a non-committal fashion. He handed Duo a package. "Chinese beer," he said. "Very good."  
  
Duo took out a bottle. "Let's have some," he said, "I'm game."  
  
He found an opener in a drawer in the kitchen and opened two bottles, handing one to Wufei.  
  
"Pretty good," said Duo, taking a long swig.  
  
"Did you even taste it?" asked Wufei shaking his head.  
  
"Nope," said Duo, grinning. "I'll taste the next one."  
  
The doorbell rang again and it was Trowa and Quatre, of course.  
  
"Come in," yelled Duo.  
  
"Go answer the door," scolded Hilde. "Lazy ass!"  
  
"Okay," said Duo, going to the door and opening it.  
  
"Come in and have some Chinese beer," he said to them.  
  
"How about iced tea?" suggested Quatre.  
  
"All made," said Duo, opening the fridge. "We knew you were coming."  
  
He poured Quatre a glass of iced tea and handed Trowa a beer.  
  
"Let's go out back," Duo said. "I need to check and see if the barbeque pit is hot."  
  
"Great," he said, when they were out on the patio. "It's just right."  
  
The brick barbeque was glowing red hot with coals.  
  
"I've got marinated swordfish, and steak, and chicken," Duo announced.  
  
"Just put a little of everything on," said Hilde coming out. Sally was holding Solo and sat down on a cedarwood love seat with cushions next to Wufei.  
  
Solo looked at Wufei with wide innocent eyes, reminiscent of Duo's, for a few moments and then held out his arms.  
  
"He wants you to hold him," explained Sally.  
  
"I figured that much out," said Wufei. "But I am not much acquainted with holding infants."  
  
"Oh, come on, Wu-man," said Duo, "He doesn't bite, besides, he only has two tiny teeth."  
  
Solo grinned widely at that moment, demonstrating that he indeed had only two bottom teeth.  
  
"Very well," said Wufei reluctantly. "But I warn you, if I damage him, it's your fault for insisting I hold the child."  
  
"He's quite sturdy, actually," said Hilde. "Go ahead." She smiled at Wufei encouragingly.  
  
Sally placed Solo on Wufei's lap. He looked up and made a gurgling sound.  
  
"He can sit if you support his back," said Sally. "He's 4 months old, now, isn't he?  
  
"Yes," said Hilde. "He can roll over, too."  
  
"He doesn't do any other tricks yet," said Duo, joking, "but we're working on beg and fetch."  
  
Hilde smacked Duo on the head with an oven mitt and he stuck his tongue out at her.  
  
Solo continued to look at Wufei and grin engagingly. "Why is he doing that?" asked Wufei.  
  
"What?" asked Sally.  
  
"Smiling at me," said Wufei. "He doesn't really know me that well."  
  
"He likes you," said Sally. "Babies pretty much like most adults at this age. He doesn't have any reason to be suspicious or fearful of anyone, he's had nothing but loving and kind adults around him."  
  
Wufei nodded, "Total innocence," he said in a quiet voice.  
  
Solo looked at him solemnly with large violet blue eyes at his tone.  
  
"Do you think he understands me?" he asked Sally.  
  
"He understands your tone," replied Sally. "Probably some words, too."  
  
Wufei reached out a finger and tickled Solo experimentally on his side.  
  
Solo giggled and squealed. "He's ticklish," said Wufei, smiling.  
  
He stood Solo up on his lap, hands under his arms so he could look around.  
  
He tried to reach out and grab Wufei's hair.  
  
"Watch him, he loves to pull hair," said Duo ruefully.  
  
"He knows how to grab things at this age, but not how to let go," said Sally. "That's a more complex motor skill."  
  
"You know a lot about babies," said Trowa to her.  
  
"A year of pediatrics during residency," said Sally. "And I have a few cousins with children."  
  
"You'll make a great mother," said Quatre, smiling at her.  
  
"Oh, I don't know about that," said Sally modestly. "It's one thing to know a lot of facts, but taking care of an infant takes hard work and patience."  
  
"You're very patient and hard-working," said Wufei to her.  
  
"Well, thank you, my dear," she said, "but it's quite a sacrifice."  
  
"On L5, people were traditionally expected to marry very young and have lots of children," said Wufei. "Someone my age could very easily have four children," he added thoughtfully.  
  
Duo shuddered, "Four kids!" he exclaimed.  
  
"Within a large extended family, with lots of aunts and uncles and cousins, there's plenty of help and guidance," he explained.  
  
Quatre nodded, agreeing, "It's much the same in my culture," he said.  
  
"Yeah, you grew up with all those sisters," said Duo to Quatre. "That must have been really something else."  
  
"It was noisy," said Quatre. "But I never felt lonely," he added.  
  
Trowa was conspicuously silent.  
  
Quatre looked over at him and Trowa was looking off in the distance with a grim look on his face.  
  
He leaned over and whispered," What's wrong?" in Trowa's ear.  
  
Trowa got up and walked into the house without a word.  
  
"Excuse me," said Quatre, following Trowa inside.  
  
"Oops," said Duo, quietly.  
  
"Just leave them alone," cautioned Hilde. "Whatever it is, it's their business."  
  
"My fault as well," said Wufei. "Here we are babbling on about our childhoods, forgetting that doesn't exist for our friend Trowa."  
  
Quatre followed Trowa into the kitchen.  
  
"Tell me what's wrong," Quatre insisted.  
  
"You want that," Trowa said. "The family thing. I've never had anything like that but Catherine. I don't even remember being a child!"  
  
Quatre shook his head. "Is that what this is all about?"  
  
He went to put his arms around Trowa.  
  
"I told you we don't have to make any decisions about that right now."  
  
"But you want it!" said Trowa.  
  
"I want you," said Quatre. "The rest will come if it's meant to come."  
  
Quatre sighed. "It wouldn't mean anything without you there anyway."  
  
"Come on," he said. He gave Trowa a kiss. "Let's go back to the party."  
  
"All right, but let's leave early."  
  
Quatre nodded. "We will." He smiled. "I'll tell everyone you have a headache."  
  
"From which I will recover immediately when we get home," said Trowa, smiling.  
  
"Of course," said Quatre.  
  
After dinner, Quatre and Trowa made their excuses and left, and Wufei and Sally soon after.  
  
As they got into the car, Sally was smiling mischievously at her husband.  
  
"You like them, don't you?" she aked him.  
  
"Maxwell?" he said. "He has grown up quite a bit from when we were pilots."  
  
"He's a good father," said Sally. "I was a little worried for him at first, but he's very natural."  
  
"Unlike me," said Wufei.  
  
"Nonsense," said Sally. "You just haven't been around many children or babies."  
  
"You want a child, don't you," asked Wufei directly, looking into her eyes.  
  
"Am I that obvious?" she asked lightly, but she flushed and wouldn't look back at him.  
  
"When I saw you holding their baby, I could tell," he said. "You were completely absorbed in him."  
  
"I have plenty of time to have a baby," said Sally. "And I want you to want it too."  
  
"I'll consider it," he said, "I haven't thought about it, is all."  
  
"Will you really?" Sally asked him.  
  
"Yes, now that I know it's important to you. I love you, Sally. And you would make a good mother."  
  
She smiled and leaned against his shoulder and he tipped up her chin and gave her a kiss.  
  
"And you would make a good father, Dragon, you just don't know it yet," she whispered. 


	12. I Need a Heero

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 12  
  
I Need a Heero  
  
Duo was playing "Jet Fighter Pilot" on his laptop when Heero came into his small office.  
  
Seeing the look on Heero's face, he said, "I'm on break," and stuck out his tongue.  
  
"I wasn't going to say anything," said Heero, folding his arms. "At least this game will improve your piloting skills."  
  
Duo threw a stapler at him, which he deftly dodged. "Ah, you made me lose, godammit," he said loudly, reaching up and yanking on his braid in self- punishment.  
  
"Whatcha need?" asked Duo. "Or are you here to make sure I'm working on that report?"  
  
"My request is personal, that's why I'm here on your break," said Heero.  
  
"Personal?" repeated Duo. "Do you need to use my bathroom?"  
  
"No," said Heero shortly, and his mouth quirked downward slightly.  
  
"I want to ask you to be best man at my wedding."  
  
Duo fell off his swivel chair.  
  
"ME?" he asked from under his desk.  
  
"There is no one else here that I would be asking, is there?" said Heero, coming over and sitting on the corner of Duo's desk.  
  
Duo went to stand up and hit his head on the computer tray that was still pulled out.  
  
"OW!" he yelled loudly, "Sunofabitchingodammthing!" he said.  
  
He stood up, avoiding the tray this time and slammed it back in place. He kicked the desk with his boot to show it who was boss.  
  
Heero was still waiting patiently, watching Duo impassively.  
  
"You know, anger management classes would do you a world of good," he said to Duo. There was a hint of a smile on his face.  
  
Duo's eyebrows went up to his hairline and his mouth went slack.  
  
"You made a joke," said Duo in an amazed tone.  
  
"Did someone recharge your batteries finally? Get your neck bolts tightened? Rewind your key?" asked Duo, starting to grin widely.  
  
Heero scowled at him. "Don't push your luck," he growled at Duo.  
  
"Back to normal already," said Duo, sighing. "Well, it was fun while it lasted."  
  
"Why me?" he asked again, plopping back down in his chair and putting his boots up on his desk.  
  
"Because it is customary to ask one's best friend," replied Heero, looking at the blotter on Duo's desk.  
  
"I'm your best friend?" asked Duo.  
  
"Of course," said Heero. "At least, I assume you are. If you do not want the honor, I can ask someone else, but I was hoping.."  
  
"No, no, that's fine," Duo interrupted him. "I'd be, um, honored," he said, sticking out his hand.  
  
"Am I really your best friend?" asked Duo again, with his hand sticking out in mid air.  
  
Heero finally took the offered hand and shook it solemnly. "Yes," he said simply.  
  
"Aw man," said Duo tearily, coming around his desk. Before Heero could disengage Duo's hand, he grabbed him up in a bear hug.  
  
"Can't breathe," muttered Heero inaudibly, unable to get away. He made a mental note to increase his training time.  
  
"I love you too, man," said Duo, finally releasing Heero and wiping his eyes on his sleeve.  
  
Heero looked at the wet spot on his shirt and sighed imperceptibly.  
  
"Sorry bout the shirt, man," said Duo, still choked up.  
  
"I have another," said Heero, shrugging.  
  
"Bout time you and Relena made it permanent," said Duo.  
  
"Her brother threatened to have me arrested if I didn't marry her," said Heero. "Although on what charge I cannot imagine. She's over 21."  
  
"Did he..?"  
  
"Yes, he caught us together," said Heero. "We were going to announce it in a few months anyway, but I was .. Put under duress to speed things up."  
  
Duo began to laugh. "I wish I'd been there." He wiped his eyes again.  
  
"I thought you got those bruises on a mission!" laughed Duo.  
  
"It was quite a fight," said Heero. "He was equally damaged." There was a hint of smugness in his tone.  
  
"Who won?" asked Duo. "Relena," said Heero shortly. "She pulled a gun on us."  
  
Duo laughed so hard he almost fell off the chair again.  
  
"I definitely wish I'd been there."  
  
"I should have never given her that antique nickel plated engraved Glock 9mm for her birthday," sighed Heero.  
  
"That's what you ended up getting her for her birthday?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I remember, I was supposed to ask Hilde about that, but then we got sort of distracted."  
  
"I understand," said Heero. "The baby."  
  
"You should come over and see him," said Duo. "The baby I mean."  
  
"I'm not really a baby person," said Heero. "No offense."  
  
"You don't have to be," said Duo. "I promise I won't sic him on you. And Relena's a girl. Girls like babies, usually."  
  
"All right," said Heero. It was hard to tell if he was reluctant or not.  
  
"So, how does Relena feel about me being best man?" asked Duo.  
  
"She said it was one way to make sure you didn't wear a light-up bow tie to the wedding."  
  
Duo laughed. "She must have seen me buying it."  
  
"You actually own a light up bow tie?"  
  
"Doesn't everyone?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Duo nervously checked his periwinkle blue shirt and black slacks in the mirror in the hallway to make sure there was no baby spit-up on them.  
  
"Good to go," he nodded to himself. Hilde came out of the bedroom holding Solo, who was wearing a slightly silly looking red and navy sailor suit that Relena had sent him for a gift.  
  
Duo called him "Admiral Solo" when Hilde put him in it. Solo, somehow sensing even at 5 months old that he looked a little ridiculous, frowned. It even had a little sailor hat that went with it. Solo pulled it off of his head and threw it on the floor. He had learned to both grab and let go of things.  
  
"You look nice," Duo said to Hilde. She was wearing a dark blue silk shift that looked very complementary with her blue black hair and blue eyes.  
  
"Thanks," said Hilde. "It'll be nice to have company, even though I am a bit nervous."  
  
"Don't worry about Relena," Duo said. "She's not stuck up, really. She just looks that way on TV."  
  
"I just haven't had time to get to know her better," said Hilde.  
  
"And you know Heero," said Duo. "You can't impress him anyway, and even if you did, you'd never know it."  
  
Hilde chuckled. "Well, no matter what I do, Solo is NOT wearing this hat, so I hope she's not offended."  
  
"He's a baby," said Duo. "Babies get away with murder."  
  
"He shouldn't be wearing a hat indoors anyway," said Duo. "Bad manners."  
  
They went to answer the doorbell, which rang at that moment.  
  
Heero and Relena were there, Relena in a soft buttercream yellow shell and skirt and Heero wearing a dark blue shirt and slacks.  
  
"Come in, please," said Hilde. Solo looked wide-eyed at Heero and ducked his head against Hilde's shoulder, looking coy.  
  
"He's adorable, Hilde," said Relena. "He's wearing that silly sailor suit my secretary picked out, I see," she giggled a little. "He looks like a baby admiral!"  
  
Hilde grinned, relaxing. "It's kind of cute, but Solo is a bit too active for dress clothes. He prefers a diaper and a t-shirt, to be honest."  
  
Duo exhaled. "Wanna beer, Heero?" he asked. Heero nodded, still looking at Solo like he was some rare alien fauna.  
  
"I've never seen a baby up close before," he finally said, taking the beer from Duo.  
  
"Babysitting wasn't exactly on our mission list," said Duo. "But I guess you weren't around too many kids, period."  
  
Heero shook his head.  
  
Hilde was getting Relena a glass of lemonade. "I'm driving," she said, taking the glass.  
  
"He's just a person, only little," said Duo. "Wanna hold him?"  
  
Heero almost dropped his beer. "No!" he said shortly.  
  
"Scared?" said Duo, grinning a mischievous smile.  
  
"Don't tease him, Duo," admonished Hilde. "He doesn't have to hold the baby if it makes him uncomfortable."  
  
"Chicken!" said Duo, ignoring Hilde. Relena raised her eyebrows, but just sipped her lemonade.  
  
"I accept your challenge," said Heero suddenly.  
  
He went over to Hilde. "Show me what to do," he said in a commanding tone.  
  
Hilde looked at Duo, who grinned and nodded. "All right," said Hilde, looking at Relena.  
  
Relena was hiding behind her glass of lemonade, trying not to laugh.  
  
"Just hold our your arms and make sure you have a firm hold on him, but not too tight," said Hilde. "He's a little wiggly."  
  
Solo looked warily at Heero as Hilde place him in the man's arms.  
  
Heero held Solo stiffly, but not too hard, as he'd been told.  
  
"He doesn't like me," said Heero, looking at Solo's face.  
  
"He feels your not comfortable," said Duo. "Just relax and he will too."  
  
Heero took a deep meditative breath and let it out, relaxing visibly.  
  
Solo looked around and suddenly reached up and grabbed a lock of Heero's messy bangs and grinned widely.  
  
"He's pulling my hair," said Heero quietly. "Which makes it hard to relax!" he said with gritted teeth. Relena smirked and quickly took a drink.  
  
"Let go, buddy," said Duo, going over and unwrapping Solo's fingers from Heero's hair.  
  
"Sorry, I forgot to warn you about that," said Duo. "He almost yanks me bald-headed all the time."  
  
"Are all babies like this?" asked Heero.  
  
"Pretty much," said Duo. "From what I know, anyway. They sort of grow on you, though. Do you want me to take him?"  
  
"No," said Heero. "I'll watch him from now on. He won't do it again."  
  
He gave Solo a glare as he reached again for Heero's bangs and Solo withdrew his chubby fist.  
  
"Teach me how to do that, will ya?" asked Duo, impressed.  
  
Heero sat down in a large armchair with Solo on his lap and proceeded to drink more of his beer.  
  
Relena and Hilde stopped talking for a moment and looked, then went back to their conversation about the upcoming wedding.  
  
Solo sat still, gazing at Heero curiously with wide eyes.  
  
Finally, he sighed, yawned and closed his eyes, snuggling into the crook of Heero's arm. In a few minutes, he was asleep.  
  
"You're pretty good at this baby thing," said Duo.  
  
Heero shrugged. "What's difficult about it?" he asked.  
  
Duo took Solo and went to put him in his crib, gently slipping off the restrictive sailor suit and putting a blanket over him. Heero looked over his shoulder.  
  
"Thank you," he said to Duo.  
  
"What'd I do?" asked Duo.  
  
"I've never held a baby before, now I have," said Heero.  
  
"Oh," said Duo. "It was nothing," he added.  
  
"We should go ahead with dinner before he wakes up," said Duo. "A kid- free dinner is a wonderful thing."  
  
They went back into the living room.  
  
"Funny, I never pictured you as a babysitter, but you're on the top of my list now," joked Duo. "You should become a nanny, honestly!"  
  
Heero snorted. "Baka," he said. 


	13. Fright Night

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 13  
  
Fright Night  
  
A siren awoke Hilde in the middle of the night. Except it wasn't a siren. It was Solo and he was screaming.  
  
Duo was awake a split second later, jumping out of bed. "What the hell?" he yelled and ran into the baby's room.  
  
Solo was sitting up in his crib, screaming and pulling at his ears. His face was flushed bright red.  
  
When Duo picked him up, he gasped at the heat radiating from his small body.  
  
"He's sick!" said Duo. He handed the baby to Hilde.  
  
"Get dressed, we're going to the emergency room!" Hilde nodded dumbly, and took the baby into the bathroom to get a cold washcloth for his hot face.  
  
Walking him and the cold washcloth reduced the screaming to sobs and whimpers.  
  
They took turns holding him as they each threw on some cloths and Duo ran out to start the car.  
  
Hilde got in the back next to the car seat, trying to soothe Solo on the ten- minute ride to the hospital.  
  
"We'll be there soon," she crooned as she kept bathing his face with the now warm washcloth.  
  
They carried a still crying baby into emergency and Duo ran up to the nurse's desk.  
  
"My baby is sick!" he said, "We need a doctor, now!"  
  
The nurse looked at him and thrust an electronic padd at him. "I need you to fill this out and state the nature of the emergency, sir. It's hospital rules. Unless it's a life threatening situation, of course."  
  
"It is a life threatening situation," growled Duo. "YOURS! If you don't get your dumb ass in gear and get a doctor down her an hour ago," he raged.  
  
The nurse stepped back and her mouth dropped open. "Sir," she began, "If you don't quiet down and control yourself, I'm going to call security!"  
  
"Duo!" Hilde exclaimed. She knew he had a temper, but she'd rarely seen him so out of control. "Hold the baby and I'll talk to her."  
  
Hilde had a brief conversation with the nurse, and quickly filled in the form.  
  
"Now," said the nurse, still looking warily at Duo, "Dr. Matthews is on call, and he should be here any minute now."  
  
She gave Duo a look that said, "Now was that so hard?" and went back to her computer screen.  
  
Duo shot her the bird behind her back with one hand and rubbed Solo's back comfortingly with the other. Hilde almost smiled.  
  
A young blond man with an earnest expression came up to them. "I'm Dr. Matthews," he said. "I'm the pediatric resident on call, and I see you have a sick little guy there."  
  
"He woke up screaming and he's hot," said Duo. "I think he's in pain."  
  
"Babies cry very hard for even minor pain," said Dr. Matthews. "But was he rubbing or pulling his ears?"  
  
"Yes, how did you know?" asked Duo.  
  
"Ear infections are common in babies and it really comes on suddenly. One of the things that happens sometimes when a baby nurses or drinks and then falls asleep is that fluid can back up in the tubes to the ears and cause a painful infection."  
  
Duo felt a little reassured. This Dr. Matthews sounded like he knew his stuff.  
  
"Okay, what do you do for it?" he asked. "Well, we can give him something for the pain and fever to start with," said Dr. Matthews, smiling.  
  
"And then an antibiotic to clear up the infection," he said. "A few simple tests and we'll know exactly what nasty bug we're dealing with and we'll have this boy of yours better in no time."  
  
"Come with me," he said, motioning to a small examination room.  
  
Duo almost sobbed with relief. "This is the first time he's ever been really sick," he explained by way of apology. "I kind of freaked out."  
  
"Let me tell you something," said Dr. Matthews. "The first time my daughter Christy got the flu I was a nervous wreck," he grinned at Duo and Hilde. "It's easy to be calm when it's someone else's kid."  
  
"Earaches suck, don't they little guy," cooed Dr. Matthews.  
  
"His name is Solo," Duo supplied.  
  
"Solo," said Dr. Matthews. "Interesting name you have there, kid."  
  
"He was named for a friend of mine that died," said Duo.  
  
"I'm sorry," said Dr. Matthews. "But that's a wonderful way to remember a friend."  
  
"Yes," said Duo.  
  
Dr. Matthews had Hilde hold Solo while he went to a cabinet and took out two bottles and a syringe without a needle.  
  
"Let's give you some medicine," he said. "Nasty tasting stuff, but you'll feel better."  
  
He first put a small device in Solo's ears and looked. "Yep, all red in there," he said, looking into the right one.  
  
Then he put another device under his arm briefly. "Aren't you glad we don't do rectal thermometers anymore," he grinned.  
  
"Yep, high fever," he said. "Just what Dad thought, you're one sick puppy."  
  
Duo liked the way that Dr. Matthews talked to Solo, like he was a person, instead of a thing.  
  
He put a little of the medicine in the syringe and let Solo slowly swallow it.  
  
"That's for the fever," he said.  
  
"And this is a broad spectrum antibiotic," he told Hilde. "He'll need it once a day, before he eats."  
  
She nodded, taking the bottle from him.  
  
"Give him the medicine for fever every 6 hours," he said. "I'll write it all down for you."  
  
Solo was still fussing, but not screaming anymore. "Some mild heat on his ear will make it feel better too," the doctor said. "The right one is the one that's hurting him."  
  
"Just use a damp washcloth in bath temperature water," he said, "That's the safest way."  
  
"I'm afraid you folks won't be getting a lot of sleep tonight," said Dr. Matthews apologetically.  
  
"That's nothing new," said Duo, rolling his eyes.  
  
"I know what you mean," said Dr. Matthews, grinning. "I have a baby too."  
  
"If he's not better in two days, call me," he said.  
  
Hilde nodded. She looked exhausted, Duo noted, and he suddenly felt like a total heel for throwing a fit at the nurse's desk.  
  
"I'm so sorry," he said to Hilde as they left the hospital after signing the check out padd.  
  
"The whole thing caught me off guard, I guess," said Duo quietly.  
  
"Bad memories, Liebhan?" asked Hilde gently.  
  
Solo had quieted and his eyes were half closed in his car seat.  
  
"I was remembering the other Solo," said Duo, looking at the road to avoid Hilde's eyes.  
  
"Things aren't like that anymore," said Hilde. "We all have bad memories of that time. We all lost someone that shouldn't have died, but did," she said.  
  
"I know," he said tersely. "I know all that, but I can't forget."  
  
"I don't expect you to forget," said Hilde. "Because I can't forget either."  
  
"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm acting like I'm the only victim in the universe."  
  
"Unfortunately, you have plenty of company, Liebhan," she said quietly.  
  
Duo pulled into the garage. "He's asleep?" he asked Hilde.  
  
"Yes, that medicine must be working," said Hilde. "His fever is down too."  
  
Duo rested his head against the steering wheel and exhaled loudly.  
  
"Good," he said.  
  
"Let's go inside."  
  
"Give me a minute," he said.  
  
She nodded. "I'll go put Solo in his bed," she whispered.  
  
She picked him up carefully so as not to wake him and took him in the house.  
  
When she came into the living room, Duo was sitting in the dark on the sofa, his head in his hands.  
  
"Everything's fine now," said Hilde. "I'll sit up with him, just in case, but I think he'll be fine. Why don't you try and get some sleep, and you can sit with him in a few hours."  
  
"I won't be able to sleep," said Duo in a choked voice. "I'll stay up."  
  
"I'll sit with you a while then," said Hilde. "I'll make some coffee."  
  
She got up to go to the kitchen, but his hand shot out and he grabbed her arm.  
  
"Later," he said. He raised his head. "Stay here with me."  
  
Hilde sat next to him on the sofa and he leaned over and buried his face in her lap.  
  
"We'll keep the nightmares away, Liebhan," she said quietly, stroking his hair. 


	14. Solo the Dragonslayer

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 14  
  
Solo, the Dragonslayer  
  
Wufei was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands when Duo came into his small office. It was pretty much like Duo's, except that it didn't have pictures of Hilde and Solo plastered all over it with stick pins, and a full size poster of Wolverine from "X-Man" on one wall.  
  
Wufei's office had a crystal vase of tiger lilies on the filing cabinet, Chinese calligraphy framed on the wall and a nice picture of Sally smiling on the desk.  
  
"Got a headache, Wu-chan?" asked Duo, coming in, his braid swishing behind him, humming something under his breath as he slapped a file in front of Wufei.  
  
"What's this?" asked Wufei, opening one eye and looking between his fingers.  
  
"It's the file you asked me for this morning about that little street riot on L-2", said Duo.  
  
"Oh, right," said Wufei, sitting up in his chair and turning around. "Just leave it there."  
  
"You all right?" asked Duo. Wufei had dark circles under his eyes and his angular face looked a bit pinched.  
  
"Just tired," he confessed, closing his eyes.  
  
"I don't sleep so good myself sometimes," said Duo. "At least the kid sleeps most nights now."  
  
"Anything I can help with?" asked Duo.  
  
"I don't know," muttered Wufei.  
  
"Well, I guess we won't know unless we try," said Duo with simple logic.  
  
"Actually, you might be the right person to help me with this," said Wufei, suddenly.  
  
"Me?" asked Duo.  
  
"Yes," said Wufei. "You see, Sally and I were discussing starting a family and then we got into, well, a disagreement about a few things. That's why I didn't get any sleep last night."  
  
"You want to have a kid?" asked Duo. "And Oh, I get it, I'm the only person you know who has one, right?"  
  
Wufei nodded. "I've been trying to reassure Sally that she can have a baby and still do her job."  
  
"You?" asked Duo, looking surprised. "You're the one pushing this?"  
  
"At first, it was Sally, and then she did a turnaround and got cold feet about the whole thing," sighed Wufei.  
  
"So, we got into a rather heated discussion about it and now I'm sleeping in the guest room." Wufei said all this quietly with his head ducked down and not looking at Duo.  
  
"Wu-chan in the old dog house, huh?" said Duo, trying to keep from grinning.  
  
"In the what?" asked Wufei.  
  
"It means you've been kicked out of the marital chamber," said Duo, finally unable to keep from cracking up.  
  
"Oh," said Wufei, putting his head in his hands again. "I suppose."  
  
"So, what's the big deal with Sally?" said Duo, plopping down on the small leather sofa that Wufei had in his office.  
  
"She's worried she'll have to quit her job at the hospital, and a few other things."  
  
"Like what?" Duo persisted, pulling a piece of bubble gum out of his pocket, unwrapping it and sticking it into his mouth. He began to chew it noisily and Wufei flashed him a look of annoyance.  
  
"She's worried that I'll do that old traditional male thing and make her take on most of the child care," he finally said.  
  
"Oh," said Duo. "Well, is that the truth?"  
  
"NO!" said Wufei. "I'm not a blasted cave man, for hells sake! That's what I told her, but she doesn't believe me."  
  
Duo blew a large pink bubble and popped it loudly with his tongue.  
  
Wufei scowled at him. "Can't you find a quieter way to indulge your sugar addiction?" he asked, rubbing his temples.  
  
"Sorry," Duo said. "Chewing gum helps me think."  
  
"Then by all means, have a whole pack," Wufei muttered sarcastically.  
  
Duo began to crack the gum with his tongue as he put his feet up on Wufei's sofa.  
  
"Hey, I got an idea," he said after a few minutes.  
  
"Hallelujah," said Wufei, unenthusiastically. "Does this mean the gum goes? Because the next bubble you blow is going to be with your ass."  
  
Duo pulled a long pink string out of his mouth and then popped it back in a few times, and then tossed it at the wastebasket across the room.  
  
He missed.  
  
Wufei groaned. He reached over with a piece of tissue and delicately picked up the chewed gum and threw it away with a small shudder.  
  
"You're disgusting, Maxwell," he said.  
  
Duo grinned confidently at him. "You haven't heard my idea yet."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Absolutely NOT!" declared Hilde, holding Solo to her protectively.  
  
"Wufei is NOT going to watch Solo this afternoon!" she gave Duo a baleful glare.  
  
"But, he needs to show Sally that he can do this so that she'll go ahead and have a baby!" argued Duo.  
  
"Besides, Wufei is the most responsible person I know," said Duo, "and he loves Solo."  
  
"He doesn't know anything about babies," said Hilde stubbornly.  
  
"I gave him a bunch of those books we have laying around here," said Duo. "You know, 'Babies for Dummies' that kind of stuff. He's been doing his homework, I promise!"  
  
"I still don't know," said Hilde.  
  
Duo sensed his opening. "Don't you want to see our friends happy?" he wheedled. "And we'll have a whole afternoon to ourselves, how often does that happen? We'll only be minutes away if something happens, anyway. Pleeze?" Large puppy dog eyes accompanied the last word.  
  
"Okay," said Hilde finally. "But I'll never forgive either of you if one hair on this precious child's head is harmed."  
  
"Cross my heart and hope to die, pinky swear nothing will happen," promised Duo.  
  
Later that afternoon, Wufei knocked on their door.  
  
"I'm here," he said unnecessarily as Duo looked out.  
  
"Come in, Mr. Babysitter," said Duo, pulling him inside.  
  
"I hope you appreciate this, because I about had to subdue Hilde with a tranquilizer gun," he whispered.  
  
"Guess who's here, Hilde?" he sang out. "Wufei's here to watch Solo for us."  
  
"Hello Wufei," said Hilde, pulling on her jacket to get ready to go out.  
  
"I'm honored that you have entrusted me with your only child," said Wufei, bowing slightly. "I promise you, nothing will happen while he's in my care.'  
  
"Goodness," said Hilde, impressed in spite of herself.  
  
"Well, I have to go finished getting ready. Duo, show him where everything is, please?"  
  
"You can quit sucking up now, Wu-chan," said Duo, elbowing him.  
  
"I meant every word of that," said Wufei indignantly.  
  
"Oh, I know, but I have to admit, that inscrutable Asian thing worked the trick with Hilde. Nice touch."  
  
Wufei scowled at him. "Just shut up, gwai-loh, and show me what I need," he said.  
  
Duo laughed. "Come on, I'll give you the grand tour of babyland."  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Duo and Hilde had left, and Wufei was alone with Solo, who was beginning to look more and more like the miniature of Duo that everyone suspected he would be at ten months old.  
  
A shock of curly chestnut hair almost hung in his round blue violet eyes and curled around his neck, and he had Duo's wide cheekbones, too. There was a hint of Hilde around his chin and jaw, but otherwise, he was Duo duplicated.  
  
Solo looked solemnly at Wufei from his baby swing and held up his chubby arms.  
  
"Had enough of that already?" asked Wufei, picking him up. He felt stupid talking to an infant, but the books said you were supposed to talk to babies.  
  
He supposed it was like talking to plants: no immediately discernible feedback, but it was good for them anyway.  
  
"So, what do you want to do?' asked Wufei, looking at Solo.  
  
"How about I put you in this stroller and we get some fresh air?" said Wufei.  
  
He would die of boredom if he had to sit here staring at Solo for the next two hours.  
  
He looked at the list that Hilde had left him. "Hm, it says that there's a small diaper bag on your dresser all ready if I want to take you for your walk," he read. "And a bottle in the refrigerator in case you get hungry, just warm it up a little."  
  
"I guess we have to take all that with you when we go somewhere?" he asked Solo, who babbled something unintelligible back at him and stuck his finger in his mouth to chew on.  
  
"And you need your red jacket and boots on when we go out," read Wufei. He rolled his eyes. He'd gone on weeklong missions with less gear than this nine-month old infant had.  
  
A few minutes later, all necessary supplies secured, Wufei ventured outdoors with Solo.  
  
They went up the street to the neighborhood park. It was a sunny fall day and Wufei was enjoying being outside and apparently Solo was too. He babbled and waved his arms at the passersby and kicked his booted feet against the footguard of the stroller.  
  
"You are entirely too trusting of strangers," said Wufei to Solo, sitting down on a bench and parking the stroller next to him.  
  
"Oh, look at the sweet baby!" he heard suddenly An elderly woman came up to them. "He's not yours, is he?" asked the woman.  
  
"No, I'm um, babysitting," said Wufei. "For friends of mine."  
  
He was vaguely surprised. No one ever talked to him spontaneously very much. He decided it must be Solo's presence putting the woman at ease.  
  
"So, you don't have any children of your own?" asked the woman.  
  
"No, not yet," said Wufei. "My wife and I are discussing it, though."  
  
"Why on earth did I just say that to a complete stranger?" he asked himself then shrugged.  
  
"Well, you sure look like you'd be good at it," said the woman. "Is the nice man taking good care of you?" she asked Solo in a high silly voice.  
  
He chortled at her and tried to grab her finger and stick it in his mouth.  
  
"Be careful, ma'am," said Wufei, "He bites."  
  
"Probably teething," she said with an air of experience. "Chamomile tea is good for that."  
  
"I'll make sure his parents are informed," said Wufei.  
  
She smiled at him. "Well, I have to be going. Good-bye." She waggled her fingers at Solo.  
  
Solo babbled something that sounded suspiciously close to "bye" and waved one chubby hand at her.  
  
Wufei looked at him, "So, you know that already, do you? You will quickly outstrip your father's mental abilities." He smirked at his own little joke.  
  
"I wonder what else you can say?" he said thoughtfully.  
  
He lifted Solo onto his lap, after carefully loosening the restraints on the stroller and said "Say 'Wufei'," to Solo very slowly.  
  
Solo looked at him curiously and moved his mouth, but nothing that sounded like 'Wufei' came out.  
  
Wufei shrugged and sat Solo down on his lap, facing outward so he could look around. A squirrel ran up a tree nearby and he pointed and squealed.  
  
"Kitty!" said Solo.  
  
"No, that's a squirrel," said Wufei. "A squirrel," he said more slowly.  
  
Solo gave him a puzzled look and repeated "Kitty!"  
  
"Squirrel," said Wufei slowly again.  
  
"Kitty!" said Solo, loudly, frowning at Wufei.  
  
"Okay, it's a kitty," said Wufei, giving up.  
  
He put Solo back in the stroller and secured him again. "Let's go see the ducks" he said, "and call them something else.  
  
They went over to the pond and watched an elderly couple feed the ducks.  
  
"Quack!" said Solo, pointing.  
  
"Well, that's closer," said Wufei.  
  
"Quack!" said Solo again, looking at him expectantly.  
  
"What?" asked Wufei, looking around.  
  
Solo pointed at the elderly couple, "Quack!"  
  
"Oh, you want US to feed the ducks too," divined Wufei.  
  
He pushed Solo over to the vending machine that sold bags of food to feed the ducks and geese and got a bag of food.  
  
"Here, you want to do it, or should I?" asked Wufei. "I'd better do it," he decided. "You might try to eat it."  
  
Solo looked at him curiously and then back at the ducks and geese in the pond.  
  
Wufei threw food to the birds, and Solo clapped his hands together and squealed as they fought over and chased the pellets of food.  
  
"You're the most easily entertained date I've ever had," mused Wufei, smiling.  
  
By the time that was done, Solo had begun to look heavy lidded, so Wufei took out the warmed bottle and gave it to Solo, who began to suck on it sleepily. By the time they arrived, he was soundly asleep, his head lolling slightly to one side in the stroller, the bottle in his lap.  
  
Wufei pushed him inside the garage, leaving the stroller behind and picking Solo up carefully so as not to wake him. He sighed and shifted into the hollow of Wufei's neck, giving him a suddenly unexpected feeling of protectiveness.  
  
He checked the clock inside. Duo and Hilde would be back shortly. He almost couldn't believe that close to two hours had passed.  
  
He put Solo gently into his crib, removing his jacket and boots slowly, and covered him with a blanket.  
  
Duo and Hilde came in the door 20 minutes later and Wufei was sitting quietly on the sofa, his glasses on, reading a book.  
  
"Any problems?" asked Duo, looking around.  
  
"He's asleep," said Wufei. "We went to the park for a walk and came home," he added.  
  
"He likes the park," said Hilde, smiling. "Did you have a good time?"  
  
"Surprisingly, yes," said Wufei, removing his glasses and closing the book.  
  
"Really?" asked Duo.  
  
"Yes," Wufei repeated. "Did you know that he talks?"  
  
Hilde laughed. "He's beginning to say a few words," she said.  
  
"You need to inform him that squirrels are not 'kitties' though," said Wufei.  
  
"We're working on it," said Duo laughing. 


	15. Positive Feedback

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 15  
  
Positive Feedback  
  
"Mm, something smells good," said Sally, inhaling as she opened the door.  
  
"Chicken Lo Mein, my favorite, if I'm not mistaken."  
  
She put down her valise and walked into the kitchen.  
  
Sure enough, the aforementioned dish was in the oven, keeping warm.  
  
"Wufei, are you home?" she called out, going into the living room.  
  
"I'm in here," she heard from the bedroom. "I was just going to take a shower."  
  
"Where were you all afternoon," Sally asked walking into the bedroom. "I called twice, but all I got was the machine."  
  
Wufei was sitting on the bed, taking off his shoes and socks.  
  
"I was babysitting," he said.  
  
"What?" asked Sally.  
  
"I was babysitting for the Maxwells," Wufei said, rubbing the bottom of his foot.  
  
"Why, was it an emergency?" asked Sally, sitting down next to him. Taking his other foot in her hands, she began to rub it absently.  
  
"No, I just wanted to," said Wufei, lying back on the bed to enjoy what Sally was doing to his foot.  
  
"So, how was it?" asked Sally curiously.  
  
"I had fun," he said, closing his eyes as Sally began to massage the foot he'd been rubbing earlier. "You have no idea how good that feels," he said.  
  
"Sure I do," said Sally. "You can do mine when I'm done, my feet are killing me."  
  
"In that case," said Wufei, "it's your turn right now." He reached up and pulled her down on the bed beside him and then sat up grabbed her foot, putting it on his lap.  
  
"CAREFUL!" she exclaimed, "You know how ticklish my feet are!"  
  
"I shall be merciful," said Wufei, gently massaging her foot.  
  
She groaned. "Okay, Chang Wufei, I know when I'm being set up for the kill. First my favorite dinner, and now I'm getting a foot massage, which, by the way, is only my SECOND most favorite spot to get rubbed, and then you tell me you spent the afternoon babysitting. Hm, I wonder what this could be about?"  
  
He smiled seductively at her. "Second most favorite spot, hm?"  
  
"Quit changing the subject."  
  
"I thought that was the subject," he said innocently.  
  
"You know that is not the subject," she protested, trying to sit up.  
  
He pushed her back down on the bed and took her other foot between his hands.  
  
Sally groaned. "I know when I'm licked," she said, lying back and closing her eyes.  
  
"Another request?" Wufei purred at her.  
  
Sally chuckled. "Wait until I've had a shower."  
  
"Why?" he said, "You'll just have to take another one."  
  
He rolled over on his side and looked down at her, and then lowered his mouth to hers. Sally put her arms around his neck and ran her fingertips lightly through his hair, which was loose and hanging over his shoulders.  
  
"I'm serious," she said gasping when they pulled apart. "I just got off an 18 hour shift and I'm wilting."  
  
"Come on, then," he said, sitting up. "We'll both take a shower."  
  
He pulled her up and began to unbutton her blouse.  
  
"I can see what kind of 'shower' this is going to be," she said, leaning in to kiss him again.  
  
"The best kind," he said to her, kissing her back, "the kind where you get dirty and clean all at the same kind."  
  
She smiled and turned around so he could unfasten her bra.  
  
Dropping it to the floor, she turned around again.  
  
"You can't take a shower like that," she said, and motioned for him to raise his arms so she could pull off his blue tank top. She tossed it behind her.  
  
He slid his arms around her naked torso. "You have something to get rid of too," he said against her neck, and hooked his thumbs in the waistband of her panties and slid them down in one smooth motion.  
  
"You next," she said, and did the same with his boxers. They both stepped out of their last bit of clothing and stood there for a second.  
  
"Last one in the shower has to stand in back," Sally said suddenly and whirled around to run to the adjoining bathroom door.  
  
"Injustice!" roared Wufei, hot on her heels as the door slammed in his face. He yanked it open and Sally had already adjusted the spray and stepped in.  
  
"You tricked me!" he said stepping in behind her.  
  
"You should have anticipated my strategy," she retorted, handing him the soap.  
  
"I have to get wet first," he complained, and she stepped out of the way.  
  
"Hurry up!" she said, water dripping down her face, "I'm freezing!"  
  
"Suffer," he said, sticking his head under the spray. He laughed at the rueful face she made and grabbed her, pulling her under the spray with him.  
  
"Is this better?" he said in her ear. "Much," she said against his neck.  
  
He poured some shampoo into his hand and began to massage it through her hair.  
  
"Mm, nice," she murmured, leaning her head back so he could rinse the shampoo out. He did the same with the conditioner. The smell of freesia wafted through the air.  
  
"Now you," she said, and proceeded to shampoo his hair and then condition it, rinsing out the excess under the shower.  
  
"That was the clean part. Now comes the dirty part," he said, sliding his hands around her waist and pulling her against him.  
  
"Can we finish the dirty part lying down?" she asked, leaning against him. "I've been on my feet all day." She sighed and he began to knead the knots out of her neck and shoulders.  
  
"Whatever works," he said, turning off the shower. He opened the shower door and handed her a towel, then grabbed one for himself.  
  
"Didn't mean to spoil the mood," Sally said apologetically.  
  
"You didn't," he said. "I understand. You're a little tired."  
  
"I'm not THAT tired," she said, pulling him around to face her again.  
  
He smiled at her. "I was hoping you'd say that. So, what do you want first, me or Chicken Lo Mein?"  
  
"You," she said. "You know how it is when you have Chinese, you always get hungry an hour later."  
  
He groaned, "I hate that joke!"  
  
She smiled evilly, "I know. And by the way, if this whole thing is to soften me up about a baby, you were wasting your time."  
  
His back stiffened, but he said, "Oh really?" in a casual tone, and continued to dry his hair.  
  
"Yes, because I already have decided that we should go ahead and try to have a baby."  
  
He paused. "All right," he said neutrally.  
  
"You're not going to admit you were trying to set me up, are you?" she asked, bending over and making a turban around her wet hair with the towel.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about, woman," he said, but he was smiling at her.  
  
"You're impossible!" she growled at him.  
  
"Not as long as I get my own way," he said, grabbing her by the arms and pushing her down on the bed.  
  
"Just don't get used to it," she said, pulling down his face between her hands and parting her lips for a searing kiss. 


	16. Cat

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 16  
  
Cat  
  
"Thank you so much for letting us watch Solo for you," said Quatre.  
  
Duo and Hilde had dropped Solo off for a weekend at the Winner/Barton estate.  
  
"I can't believe it's been a year and a half since he was born," said Quatre to Trowa, holding the squirming little boy.  
  
Solo was busy trying to escape from the firm grasp of his Uncle Quatre, who also happened to be one of his godfathers.  
  
"Down," he said, frowning at Quatre and pushing his small hands against Quatre's pink shirt.  
  
"No, you can't get down until Uncle Trowa fixes the baby gates," said Quatre.  
  
There were now gates at the bottom and top of one staircase, and Trowa was busy installing the last two.  
  
It was at the last minute that they had realized that Solo was too little to navigate the double staircases up each side of the main room, but big enough to want to try.  
  
"Down," said Solo, his bottom lip beginning to quiver a little.  
  
"Come on," said Quatre, "lets go outside and look at the fish."  
  
They went out on the back veranda and Quatre led Solo over to the koi pond, full of large fat goldfish.  
  
"Fishy!" said Solo, lunging suddenly toward the edge of the pond.  
  
Quatre squeaked and grabbed him at the last minute before he tumbled headlong into the shallow water.  
  
"Bad idea," said Quatre, panting a little.  
  
"Down," said Solo, squirming around in Quatre's grasp to see the fish again.  
  
"Fishy!" he said emphatically, pointing at the pond.  
  
"Maybe we ought to use that little harness and leash that Hilde left for us," suggested Trowa, coming outside to stand next to Quatre. "You know, tie him up."  
  
"He's not a dog!" said Quatre. "We'll just have to keep him entertained and happy for two days, how hard can it be?"  
  
Trowa said nothing, but he sighed, blowing up his long bangs. For a second, Quatre saw two green eyes looking doubtfully at him.  
  
"Do you really want me to answer that?" he finally asked.  
  
"Are the gates all installed?' asked Quatre.  
  
"I'm done," said Trowa. "The decorators are going to love our new touch," he smirked a little.  
  
"Fortunately, they're not hard to remove," said Quatre, although secretly, he was hoping they wouldn't want to, someday.  
  
Trowa watched Quatre carry the protesting toddler back into the house. "Maybe he'll get this baby obsession out of his system," thought Trowa, following them into the house.  
  
It wasn't that he hated kids. He actually liked them, most of the time. He just wasn't sure he wanted one, not yet, anyway.  
  
"Maybe he's hungry?" said Quatre, carrying Solo into the large kitchen.  
  
Maybe," echoed Trowa, sitting down at the counter on a tall stool. "This oughta be good," he thought, watching Quatre try to open the large, walk in refrigerator with one hand and hold onto a struggling Solo with the other.  
  
"Why don't you let me take him?" Trowa said finally, as Solo grabbed a carton of eggs from the bottom shelf and half of them went crashing to the floor.  
  
Quatre looked up, his normally cheerful and placid countenance flushed and irritated.  
  
"Thank you, that'd be a big help," he said with faint sarcasm.  
  
"You look a little frustrated," said Trowa neutrally, picking up Solo and setting him on his lap.  
  
"Let's watch Uncle Quatre cook lunch," he said in Solo's ear, which made Solo giggle and reach up and pull on his ear where it had been tickled by Trowa's bangs.  
  
Enjoying the sound of the toddler's throaty giggle, Trowa ran his finger down his side, making Solo squeal with laughter.  
  
"Okay, enough of that," he said to Solo. "We don't want to get you too wound up."  
  
"Come on, I'll show you how to juggle," said Trowa, bending down and taking Solo's hand and walking him to the kitchen door.  
  
Solo followed along obediently, looking up at the tall man, holding on to his index finger.  
  
"Where are you going?" said Quatre, pulling out ingredients and cookbooks.  
  
"To play," said Trowa, leaving Quatre with a dumbfounded look on his face.  
  
"Okay," he said wearily, "I never thought of that."  
  
"Ball!" said Solo, pointing up in the air.  
  
"Four balls!" said Trowa, adding another colorful sphere to the three he had been juggling.  
  
"Four!" said Solo, pointing again.  
  
The spinning balls were mesmerizing. Solo was sitting on a chair in the living room watching Trowa intently.  
  
"Five!" said Trowa, adding one more. It was getting tricky now, and he was worried that he was a little rusty. Not that Solo seemed to mind.  
  
"Five." repeated Solo, laying his head sideways on the arm of the low overstuffed chair he was sitting on.  
  
"You two speak the same language, no wonder he likes you," said Quatre, coming into the room still wearing a blue apron that said, 'Arabs Do It Hotter'.  
  
Trowa was focused on his juggling and didn't reply.  
  
"Six," he said quietly, and added another ball. Six balls are quite difficult and after a few attempts, he dropped one.  
  
Solo giggled, "Fall down!" he said. "Again!" he said, rolling off the low chair in a fit of laughter. Fortunately, he landed on his feet and toddled over to Trowa.  
  
Gradually, Trowa let all the balls fall on the floor, until he had one left in his hand. He went over and presented it to Solo, who pounced on it saying, "Ball!"  
  
"Lunch is ready," said Quatre, smiling at the scene of Trowa and Solo gently rolling the ball between them on the floor.  
  
"Eat!" said Solo, looking up.  
  
"Eat," repeated Trowa.  
  
Solo walked over to Quatre and held up his arms. "Cat!" he said.  
  
"I think he said 'Quatre'," said Quatre, startled.  
  
"No, he said 'Cat'," said Trowa.  
  
"He says 'kitty' for 'cat'," argued Quatre, picking up Solo and kissing him on the cheek.  
  
"He calls everything small and furry 'kitty'," said Trowa.  
  
"He said my name," said Quatre stubbornly.  
  
"I believe you," said Trowa, going over to him and putting his arms around Quatre and kissing him.  
  
"Big hug!" said Solo, slightly squeezed between the two of them.  
  
He squirmed a little and then put his head on Quatre's shoulder.  
  
"He's so adorable," said Quatre quietly. He put his head against Solo's and Solo hugged his arms around Quatre's neck tightly.  
  
"Cat," he said.  
  
"See?" said Quatre triumphantly, "He's saying my name." He stuck his tongue out playfully at Trowa.  
  
Solo chuckled and said, "Bad boy!"  
  
"He wasn't quite this cute a while ago," pointed out Trowa.  
  
Quatre gave him a look from behind Solo's red-brown curls.  
  
"Okay, he's adorable," said Trowa, surrendering to the inevitable.  
  
"Eat!" said Solo, pointing toward the kitchen.  
  
Both men snorted.  
  
"Well, we know for sure he's Duo's now," said Quatre, carrying Solo through the kitchen door.  
  
40 minutes and a spilled sippy cup of apple juice later, Solo was beginning to fall over into his macaroni and cheese.  
  
"Bath and a nap," said Quatre, going over to release Solo from the highchair.  
  
"Bath," Solo repeated sleepily.  
  
Quatre carried Solo up to the bathroom and knelt down, turning on the taps to just the right temperature.  
  
Solo offered no resistance as he was divested of his t-shirt, overalls and diaper, and set down in the warm bath.  
  
He perked up a little when Quatre put in the bubble bath, and began to poke the bubbles with his fingers and grin.  
  
Trowa was in the kitchen cleaning up the last of the mess around the high chair and after he wiped up the last of the juice, he went upstairs to see if Quatre needed any help.  
  
The bathroom was steamy but empty, so he went into their bedroom and Quatre was sprawled out on the bed, snoring faintly, having taken off the now wet and food-stained apron. Solo wearing only a diaper was asleep against his chest.  
  
Trowa pulled the comforter over both of them and quietly left the room. 


	17. Abandoned

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 17  
  
Abandoned  
  
Sally crumpled up her empty paper cup and threw it in the garbage. It had been a long day. Not to mention disturbing.  
  
"Who would just throw away a baby?" she wondered for the 20th time that day.  
  
She'd seen a lot of things during the war, but that didn't make things like this any easier.  
  
The paramedics had been called just in time. The tiny child, a boy, had been wrapped in an old towel and left in a dumpster.  
  
Sally went over and checked the temperature readings again. After being in the incubator for 6 hours, the baby's body temperature was almost back up to normal. She sighed. She'd thought the child was dead when she first saw it.  
  
"I don't need to be seeing this kind of thing right now," she thought, running her hand lightly over her abdomen.  
  
She'd just found out a month ago that she was pregnant.  
  
She sighed. Reaching into the incubator, she lightly stroked the infant's face. He was definitely more active than he'd been a few hours ago. He reacted to her touch by turning his head toward it. She sighed.  
  
"We need to get a volunteer in here to hold you," she said to herself. "I can't be here all the time, even though you are a cutie." The nurses were literally fighting over who got to take care of him on their shifts, but they were all busy. Baby John Doe needed someone there just to hold and feed him.  
  
"At least you'll live," she whispered. She knew how important it was for small infants to get lots of holding and cuddling. They failed to thrive otherwise. It was almost as vital as food and warmth.  
  
Sally got a sudden inspiration. "Hey there, baby, I think I know just the person for you." She went off to find a vidphone.  
  
Quatre's face appeared on the screen.  
  
"I have a big favor to ask you," said Sally, smiling at Quatre.  
  
"Anything," he said, smiling back at her. "Is it something for the hospital?"  
  
"Well, you could say that," she said, "it has to do with a patient we have here. He's in need of some special care."  
  
"Is it a financial problem?" asked Quatre. "You know I'm happy to help with sponsoring any charitable programs."  
  
"More of a personal attention problem, to be honest," said Sally. "Quatre, I need someone to take care of an abandoned infant. Sort of a foster situation."  
  
"So, you called me," said Quatre.  
  
"It's an emergency," she said. "All of our regular families are unable to devote the time a newborn takes. For some reason, I thought you might be able to help me out. It's just until we can find something permanent."  
  
"Let me come down there, and I'll decide then," said Quatre. "And I have to talk to Trowa first, of course."  
  
"Of course," she said. "I don't want to pressure you, but please say yes. For some reason, I don't want this kid to get lost in the typical bureaucratic shuffle."  
  
"Why Sally, shame on you, you've become personally involved," smiled Quatre at her. "Where's that detached professional demeanor?"  
  
"Completely gone. Oh, Quatre, he's so tiny!" she said, a small tear escaping the corner of her eye.  
  
"I never thought I'd see Sally Po-Chang completely hormonal," teased Quatre, but he was smiling at her.  
  
"I know," she sighed, "I'm making Wufei crazy with all my whining and weeping. But, he asked for it."  
  
"I'll be there in an hour," said Quatre. "We both will be," he added, looking over his shoulder, apparently at Trowa.  
  
"Thanks, I knew I could count on you," said Sally. She cut transmission.  
  
Walking back to the NICU, she went over to Baby Doe's incubator.  
  
"I just found you a guardian angel," she said. "You can thank me later."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"He's over here," said Sally, leading the two men over. Trowa looked around at tiny beds and incubators full of sick or premature infants. This was not his idea of a great place to be.  
  
She led them over to Baby Doe's incubator. "He's only in here because he's recovering from hypothermia," she explained. "Otherwise, he's a healthy normal infant."  
  
They looked down at the baby. He had small wisps of white blond hair on his skull and pink, wrinkled skin. A typical looking newborn.  
  
He opened his eyes at that second and seemed to look up at them. "He's a lot more alert than he was. His body temp is normal now."  
  
"Can I touch him?" asked Quatre.  
  
"Sure, just wash your hands and I'll get out of there. He can come out for a few minutes now."  
  
She led Quatre over to a sink to wash his hands, and she washed her hands too.  
  
"Just a precaution, he's still a little weak," she explained. "We don't want him catching anything."  
  
They went back and Sally lifted the lid on the incubator, and gently lifted the baby out. He was attached to an IV line and and a heart monitor, which she was careful not to disturb.  
  
Quatre held out his arms.  
  
"Hello," he said to the baby, who opened his eyes and looked up at the sound of his voice.  
  
"I'll get you a blanket and you can sit there and hold him." She indicated a padded rocking chair nearby.  
  
Quatre sat down gingerly, making sure the lines connected to the baby were in place. Sally handed him a blanket, which he wrapped around the infant's body.  
  
Trowa went over and stood behind the rocking chair. "I'll get you another chair," said Sally.  
  
"I'll get it," said Trowa. "You look tired." He went off to get a chair.  
  
"It's been a stressful day," said Sally, "but things are looking up. Thanks again for coming so soon."  
  
Trowa came back with two chairs, offering one to Sally, which she gratefully took and thanked Trowa.  
  
"How can I thank you?" asked Quatre quietly.  
  
"Love at first sight, hm?" asked Sally, looking at him.  
  
"He's beautiful, perfect," sighed Quatre, looking down. He sighed, "You're setting us up for the coup de grace."  
  
"Definitely," said Sally. "You need this child, he needs you. Both of you," she added, looking at Trowa.  
  
"Yes," said Trowa simply. He nodded, his face serious.  
  
"We can't just let anyone have him," he said.  
  
"It's time for his feeding, you want to do it?" asked Sally.  
  
Quatre nodded.  
  
She went to get it ready.  
  
"You're sure?" asked Quatre, looking at his love.  
  
"Yes," said Trowa. "You're so happy, I can't deny you anything," he said.  
  
"Are YOU happy?" asked Quatre.  
  
"Yes," said Trowa simply. "I'm not afraid anymore."  
  
He scooted the chair over and put his arm around Quatre, who had started to cry.  
  
"Here," said Trowa, handing him a handkerchief.  
  
"You're crying too," said Quatre. "Keep it."  
  
He pulled a handkerchief out of his vest pocket.  
  
"I anticipated this time," he explained, laughing a little and wiping his eyes.  
  
Sally brought the baby's bottle over and Quatre began to feed him.  
  
"So, what do we name him?" asked Trowa, after a minute or so.  
  
"I haven't really thought about it, but we can't just keep calling him 'baby' or 'John Doe'," Quatre shuddered slightly.  
  
"Tristan," said Quatre. "I like that name."  
  
Trowa nodded, "Me too, but we don't have to decide right now."  
  
"We'll discuss it later," said Quatre.  
  
"When can we take him home?" he asked Sally, checking the bottle to see how much the infant had eaten.  
  
"In a day or so," said Sally. "You'll have to get things ready, and by then, he'll be completely out of danger. And, I need to make a few arrangements," she said. "Have you sign the right papers with the social agencies and such. There should be no problems. I've already talked to them and they're thrilled to find this kid a great foster home."  
  
Quatre nodded, sniffling a little. "I'll have everything ready in two days," he said.  
  
Sally bent over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Have fun, Dad," she whispered. She gave Trowa a small hug. "You too, Dad."  
  
"I can go home now that I know that he's in good hands," said Sally, standing up and stretching.  
  
"Maria here will help you with him when you're ready to leave." She indicated the NICU nurse standing next to one of the other incubators.  
  
"Dad," repeated Quatre. He fumbled for his handkerchief again.  
  
"Here," said Trowa, "Let me." He gently dabbed at Quatre's face.  
  
"I still say Tristan is a great name," said Quatre. "It's a noble name, classic."  
  
"I get to pick the middle name, then," said Trowa. "Deal?" He leaned over and gave his koi a soft kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Deal," said Quatre. 


	18. Mei

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 18  
  
"I bet you fifty bucks you faint," said Duo to Wufei, who was sitting across from him stuffing his face full of potato salad.  
  
"This is not appropriate conversation for lunch time," said Wufei, who had put down his fork and was giving Duo a bilious look.  
  
"I can't believe you're married to a doctor," said Duo.  
  
"Sally has the courtesy not to bring up the subject of childbirth at the table," said Wufei, taking a long drink of water.  
  
They were sitting in the gazebo at Trowa and Quatre's home. This time, the occasion was the finalization of the adoption of Tristan Daniel Barton- Winner.  
  
"Babies are gross," said Duo, "get used to it."  
  
"Gross," repeated Solo, who was sitting in between Duo and Hilde.  
  
"Thank you for adding another interesting word to our son's vocabulary," said Hilde.  
  
At two years old, Solo had a positively angelic look about him, which was totally misleading. He was, to put it in Duo's words, "destruction on two legs".  
  
"Babies are NOT gross," said Quatre, who was jiggling Tristan to keep him quiet.  
  
"They're noisy, gross and incontinent," insisted Duo. "The cuteness is so we put up with it until they become civilized human beings."  
  
"Did you hear what your daddy said about you?" said Quatre to Solo, who was trying to see if he could put macaroni salad into other orifices besides his mouth.  
  
Duo grabbed his hand before he put a piece up his nose.  
  
"Daddy's mean," said Solo, pouting. "Solo wanna get down."  
  
"Wait until we're finished eating," said Hilde.  
  
"Okay," said Solo, but he was still pouting.  
  
"You want to see the baby?" asked Quatre, walking around to that side of the table. He'd already eaten and was taking his turn holding Tristan, who had decided that today was a good day to cut his first tooth. Since he started to scream when he was put down, everyone was taking turns walking him around the table.  
  
Quatre sat down on a chair he pulled up with one hand and held Tristan up to Solo, who proceeded to try to poke him in the face with his spoon.  
  
Hilde grabbed his hand away. "No," she said firmly. "Don't poke the baby with your spoon."  
  
"Baby's hungry," insisted Solo. "Baby's crying," he said.  
  
"No, Solo, he's not hungry, his teeth hurt," said Quatre.  
  
Solo put his finger into Tristan's mouth.  
  
"No teeth," he said sadly. "Poor baby."  
  
"Don't put your finger in Tristan's mouth!" said Hilde, trying to grab Solo's hand away again.  
  
But Tristan had a death grip on Solo's finger and was happily chewing on it. He had blond wisps of hair sticking up all over and dark blue-green eyes, which at the moment were fixed on Solo.  
  
"It's okay, Hilde," said Quatre.  
  
"We quit worrying about what he put in his mouth after he ate a piece of cat food off the kitchen floor at my sister's house," he said.  
  
"Tristy biting me," giggled Solo, watching the six month old chew on his finger.  
  
"That's the happiest he's been all day," said Trowa wearily.  
  
"What's good for teething?" he asked Sally, who had her feet up on a small wicker hassock and was rubbing her stomach absently.  
  
"Ear plugs," said Sally dryly.  
  
Trowa gave her a faint grin.  
  
"Remind me to get some," he said to Quatre.  
  
"How many weeks until you're due?" asked Hilde to Sally.  
  
"Four weeks," she said. "One more miserable month."  
  
Hilde winced sympathetically. "I remember."  
  
"Please, no horror stories," said Sally. "Why is it when you're pregnant that every woman in creation has to come up to you and tell her about her 36 hour labor?"  
  
"War stories," said Hilde shortly.  
  
"What?" said Duo.  
  
"Childbirth stories are the female equivalent of war stories," said Hilde.  
  
"You know, your chance to brag about how brave you were in the face of blood and pain."  
  
"Oh," said Duo. "I get it."  
  
"No you don't, but that's all right," said Hilde.  
  
"I hate it when women act like men can never understand the big mystery of being a woman," said Duo, frowning at her.  
  
"You can't" said Sally and Hilde together. They both laughed.  
  
"Weren't Heero and Relena supposed to be here?" asked Wufei, changing the subject.  
  
"Yes, but they called and said they'd be late," said Trowa. "Last minute emergency meeting of some sort."  
  
"I still can't believe they left all those people waiting in the church and eloped," said Hilde, smiling broadly.  
  
"You know Heero, he hates crowds," said Wufei. "I knew he wouldn't go through with that big wedding."  
  
"I was gonna be the best man," sighed Duo. "I got gypped."  
  
"I can't believe he talked Relena into it," said Sally. "You know how uber- responsible she is."  
  
"Heero is pretty persuasive when he wants to be," said Wufei.  
  
"Yeah, I wonder what headlock he used on her?" commented Duo, earning him a light slap on the back of the head by Hilde.  
  
"Shh," said Hilde, "here they are!"  
  
"One nasty crack and you'll be sleeping on the couch," warned Hilde in his ear.  
  
"Yes, Hilde, love of my life," he said, standing up to greet Heero and Relena.  
  
Trowa stood up as did Wufei. There was something about Relena that demanded a more old-fashioned sort of courtesy.  
  
Heero was holding her arm as they walked up the step to the gazebo.  
  
"Hello everyone!" Relena said. "I'm so sorry we're late."  
  
"Glad you could come anyway," said Quatre.  
  
"I'd rather be here than in some stuffy meeting anyway," said Relena.  
  
"Please, sit down," said Quatre. "With the kids here, we're being very informal."  
  
"How are you, Solo?" said Relena, going over and holding out her hand to the little boy.  
  
Solo gazed up. "Pretty lady!" he said, and took her hand and solemnly shook it.  
  
Relena laughed. "He understands flattery already," she said to Duo. "He looks just like you."  
  
"Unfortunately, he acts just like me too,' said Duo, grinning.  
  
"How's it hangin, Heero?" he asked, making Hilde choke as she sipped her glass of lemonade.  
  
"Duo!" she hissed.  
  
"Same as always," replied Heero, levelly, pulling out a chair for Relena, then sitting down himself.  
  
"Whoops," said Duo. "Well, I'm sleeping on the couch tonight," he said in a remorseful voice.  
  
Everyone laughed, except Heero, who merely turned up the corners of his mouth and shook his head.  
  
"Your mouth will be the death of you yet, baka," he said to Duo.  
  
"Baka!" said Solo, happily, clapping his hands.  
  
"Great!" moaned Duo, putting his hand over Solo's mouth. "Now he's calling me that!"  
  
"Daddy!" protested Solo, pulling Duo's hand from over his mouth.  
  
"Let Solo go," he said. "I want down," he said to Hilde.  
  
"Okay," she said, helping him down from his seat. "You've sat long enough, but don't go far."  
  
"Okay, Mommy," said Solo.  
  
Solo walked over to Sally, "Baby?" he said, reaching up to pat her stomach.  
  
She smiled at him, "Yes, she's still in there."  
  
"Come out, baby," said Solo, putting his head against Sally's stomach.  
  
She laughed. "From your mouth to God's ear, as they say," she said.  
  
"Do you have a name picked out yet?" asked Relena, as she finished chewing a bite of food.  
  
"No, we're still arguing about that," said Sally.  
  
Wufei glanced at her. "I had a boy's name picked out until we found out she is a girl," he said.  
  
"That's what you get for thinking you're going to get your own way about everything," said Sally.  
  
"You're not disappointed that it's a girl?" asked Hilde. "Come on Wufei, be honest!"  
  
"NO, I am not disappointed and I wish people would quit asking me that!" he said, raising his voice slightly.  
  
"He's not disappointed, just surprised," said Sally. "I don't know why he assumed it would be boy."  
  
"Because there hadn't been any girls born in my family in 3 generations," said Wufei. "So, I just assumed."  
  
"Well, you get the honor of being the first in 3 generations," said Sally, cutting him off.  
  
"Yes, my dear," he said, "and I hope she is as lovely and sweet-natured as you are."  
  
"Well, Wu-chan won't be sleeping on the couch," said Duo.  
  
"That's because I know when to say the right thing," said Wufei quietly.  
  
"Come help me up, Dragon," said Sally. "I'm beginning to meld to this chair."  
  
"Dragon?" said Duo, smirking at Wufei.  
  
Wufei glared at him. "It's a damn site better than being called 'baka'."  
  
"Damn," said Solo, grinning widely and looking around to make sure everyone heard.  
  
"Wufei!" said Sally. "Did you hear what this child just repeated that came from your mouth?"  
  
"Like he hasn't heard that before living with him," he said, pointing at Duo.  
  
He got up and went to help Sally rise from her chair.  
  
"Actually, he already knows that word," said Hilde, "so don't worry." She gave Duo a look. "And some worse ones."  
  
"Well, what do you expect a guy to say when he drops a wrench on his foot?" asked Duo. "Oh, fiddlesticks?"  
  
"Yes," said Hilde. "When there are young children around."  
  
"We're going for a little walk," said Sally.  
  
"There are roses over by the south wall," said Quatre. "You should go see them."  
  
"We will," said Sally, waving as she walked off with Wufei holding her arm.  
  
"You feeling all right?" asked Wufei as they walked off down the cobbled path.  
  
"Fine, I just was tired of sitting there," she said. "Any one position for too long seems to get uncomfortable."  
  
"There are the roses," said Wufei.  
  
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" asked Sally. "I know they're not your favorite flower," she added.  
  
"Funny, I don't think much about Treize anymore," said Wufei. "It seems like someone else's life and a long time ago."  
  
"In a way, it is," said Sally. "We have such different lives now."  
  
"That's it," said Wufei, suddenly. "What?" asked Sally. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"The name," he said. "What do you think of Mei*?" he asked. (*mei gui or just mei is Chinese for rose)  
  
Sally thought for a second. "I like it," she said finally.  
  
She looked down at her stomach. "What do you think?" she asked facetiously, "How about 'Mei''?  
  
The baby chose at that moment to give Sally an obvious kick, which caused her to gasp a little and put her hand to her belly.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Wufei anxiously, hearing her gasp.  
  
"Nothing," she said reassuringly. "I think Mei likes her name."  
  
"Or she hates it," said Wufei. "Maybe that was a protest kick."  
  
"She's outvoted," said Sally. "She'll have to learn she can't have her own way about everything too."  
  
"You can so," said Wufei, bending over and putting his mouth near Sally's belly. "You just have to yell and threaten people enough."  
  
"I need to go find a bathroom," sighed Sally.  
  
"It'll be over soon," said Wufei.  
  
"I hope so," said Sally.  
  
"I'm tired of being a baby punching bag," she sighed.  
  
"I've been teaching her katas while you sleep," said Wufei.  
  
"I believe it," said Sally.  
  
"I really don't mind the baby is a girl," he said.  
  
"I know," said Sally. "I'm a girl and you like me," she said archly.  
  
"Yes, I like you an awful lot," he said.  
  
"Sometimes, you even love me," she said, smiling.  
  
"All the time," he said as they walked along. 


	19. Unexpected

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 19  
  
Unexpected  
  
Wufei came out of the double doors of the surgical suite, and slowly pulled the ridiculous looking plastic cap off of his head.  
  
His friends stood up, looking towards him with expectant looks on their faces.  
  
"They're both fine," Wufei said tiredly, and sat down on a chair in the waiting room.  
  
There was a communal exhalation of relief at the words.  
  
"I'm so glad," said Relena, the first to speak. "We had some anxious moments out here, I want you to know."  
  
"Yeah," said Duo, "I, for one, was scared shitless."  
  
Hilde just nodded and leaned her head on Duo's shoulder.  
  
"So, Sally is conscious?" asked Quatre, who was stuffing a handkerchief back into his pocket.  
  
"They were able to do the emergency Caesarean with an anesthetic that allowed her to be awake, but she is asleep now because of the pain medication."  
  
"She got to see the baby, then," said Hilde. "I'm so glad."  
  
"Would you all like to see her?" asked Wufei. "She's in the nursery until Sally recovers a bit more."  
  
"We'd love to," said Quatre, linking his arm with Trowa's as they followed Wufei down the hall.  
  
"She's the one right in front," he said, pointing to a bundle with dark wisps of hair wrapped in a pink blanket. A card on the bassinet said "Baby Girl Chang Mei".  
  
"I'll go inside and hold her up so you can see her better," said Wufei. He knocked on the nursery door and a nurse opened it for him.  
  
Gingerly, he lifted the newborn up to the viewing window for his friends to see.  
  
The baby raised a fisted hand in the air and stretched, her face reddening slightly then tried to open her eyes. Blinking once, she turned her face towards the face above her, then closed her eyes again.  
  
" Aw, cute," was Duo's instant appraisal.  
  
"All babies are cute," said Quatre.  
  
"I dunno," said Duo doubtfully. "I saw one on the grocery store the other day that looked just like an ugly monkey."  
  
"Of course," he amended. "All of our kids are gorgeous."  
  
"Of course," agreed Quatre.  
  
Wufei was still inside holding the baby.  
  
"I don't think he wants to put her down," said Hilde. "Let's go back to the waiting area."  
  
Heero took Relena's arm. "We need to be going. We can come back tomorrow when Sally can have visitors, Relena."  
  
Relena agreed. "I'm feeling really tired, I have to admit. Give our excuses to Wufei, would you, Quatre?"  
  
"Of course," Quatre said graciously. Relena did look tired. Her blond complexion was paler than usual and she had dark circles under her blue eyes.  
  
"Are you feeling all right?" Trowa asked soliticiously, looking at Relena.  
  
"Just a little virus or something I picked up on that last trip," she said, "I'm sure I'll be better in a few days."  
  
"She needs to rest," repeated Heero. "You were dizzy this morning," he said to her, frowning.  
  
"I'm sure it's nothing," she said with feigned lightness. But she took Heero's arm as they turned to leave and he slipped it around her waist as she leaned against him.  
  
"We all need to go home, now that we know everything is fine," said Trowa.  
  
"Thanks for letting us leave Solo at your place," said Duo to Quatre and Trowa. "I sure didn't want to bring him here."  
  
"Rashid loves being a babysitter again," said Quatre. "After all, he took care of me for years."  
  
"I hate late night phone calls, its always bad news," said Duo.  
  
"Sally is fine now, that's what matters," said Hilde. "We'll be able to see her tomorrow."  
  
"We'll say goodbye to Wufei and then we'll go," said Duo.  
  
"It's late," said Quatre, looking at his watch. "I bet Rashid put the boys to bed hours ago. You can just stay at our place, if you want."  
  
"Okay," said Duo. "Thanks."  
  
Wufei came out. "You look whipped," said Duo. "Gonna go home or stay here?"  
  
"I should stay until Sally wakes up," he said.  
  
"I'm really sorry for all you've gone through," said Hilde. "If there's anything we can do to help."  
  
"There probably will be," said Wufei. "I'll let you know."  
  
He closed his eyes and lay back on the sofa in the waiting room.  
  
"You should get some rest," said Quatre.  
  
"I will, later."  
  
"Stubborn," said Trowa.  
  
"She sat with me plenty of nights when I was injured," he said. "Now I can return the favor."  
  
"You know the Wu-man," said Duo. "Once he gets a notion in his noggin."  
  
"I'll be fine," said Wufei. "Go home and I'll see you all tomorrow."  
  
"By the way," said Duo. "Congratulations, Ba."(Daddy)  
  
He went over and sat down next to Wufei and slung his arm around him.  
  
"Just in case no one said it before."  
  
"Xie xie," Wufei said quietly. "Bu gan dang*." (*Thank you, I don't deserve it.)  
  
"Now I know you're wrecked," said Duo. "You're talkin to me in Chinese."  
  
"Shi yu yuan wei" said Duo. (*Things don't always turn out the way you want.)  
  
Wufei looked at him in faint amazement.  
  
"See, I'm not so dumb," said Duo.  
  
"No, you're not," said Wufei.  
  
"No problem," said Duo. "You need a hug" he whispered, grabbing his friend up in a huge bear hug.  
  
"Ai ya, mei hao!" said Wufei, resisting a little against the sudden Duo onslaught. (Ack! I'm fine!)  
  
"Now you are," said Duo smugly.  
  
"Go home Maxwell, before you subject me to more public indignities."  
  
Duo laughed. "You know you can't get rid of me that easily."  
  
Wufei nodded warily. "You're tenacious, if nothing else. I give you that."  
  
"Thank you," said Duo, standing up and giving a little bow.  
  
"He loves me," announced Duo to the others, making even Trowa chuckle a little.  
  
"If I weren't so tired, I'd kick your ass," growled Wufei.  
  
"You try it and I'll hug you again," threatened Duo.  
  
"You win," said Wufei, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender.  
  
"Well, Hilde my love, shall we go?" asked Duo. "I'm more tired than a one armed man in a knife throwing contest."  
  
"Me too," said Hilde. She went over to Wufei. "We'll be back first thing to- morrow. Try to get some sleep, please?"  
  
"I will, I promise," he told her.  
  
They left, leaving Wufei sitting on the sofa. He closed his eyes and his head was soon nodding against his chest.  
  
"Mr. Chang?" asked a voice behind him.  
  
"Yes?" he answered, turning around.  
  
"Your wife is asking for you," said the nurse, "She's awake."  
  
Wufei nodded at her and followed her.  
  
The nurse opened the door to a private room and Sally was sitting up slightly, looking at him.  
  
"They tell me Mei is fine," she said in a drowsy voice.  
  
"She is, she's beautiful," said Wufei coming over to sit down on a chair beside the bed.  
  
"I wanted to hear you say it," said Sally. "Now I can rest."  
  
"You haven't seen her again?" asked Wufei.  
  
"Not since they took her to the nursery," said Sally. "I'd like to, though."  
  
Sally reached for the call button, but Wufei beat her to it.  
  
In a few minutes, the nurse came in.  
  
"May we see our daughter?" asked Sally. "She's in the nursery."  
  
"Of course, Dr.," said the nurse, who had "Sharon" on her nametag.  
  
She turned to leave.  
  
"See, it pays to have clout here," joked Sally feebly. "But I have to warn you, like most doctors, I intend to be a lousy patient."  
  
"Maybe you'll get to come home sooner that way," said Wufei.  
  
"I know this isn't exactly the way we planned things," said Sally. "I'm going to need your help even more than I had anticipated for a while."  
  
"Merely an opportunity to return a favor," said Wufei quietly.  
  
"I suspected you would say something like that," said Sally.  
  
The nurse opened the door, pushing a small portable bassinet before her.  
  
"Here she is," the nurse said cheerily. "She can stay in here with you for a while, Dr. Po, if your husband is here to help you."  
  
"That'd be wonderful," murmured Sally. "Thank you."  
  
"Well, we can bend the rules a little for staff," smiled Sharon.  
  
"If you need anything, just call." She left.  
  
"Hand her to me," said Sally.  
  
"Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, get me an extra pillow out of the closet there, and I can rest her on that."  
  
He went to get the pillow and placed it on the bed next to Sally's right arm, and then picked up Mei and placed her gently on the pillow.  
  
"Now we can have a good look at you," said Sally. She pulled down the blanket a little and smiled.  
  
"She looks like you," said Sally, finally.  
  
"Not really," he said, scanning the baby's features.  
  
"It's true," said Sally. "Most babies look like their fathers, male or female, did you know that?"  
  
"No," he said shortly.  
  
"It seems to be in place genetically to reassure insecure males that a child is indeed theirs," she said, trying to wink at him.  
  
"I have no insecurities about that," he said.  
  
"I hope not," she said.  
  
"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked. "You seem to be rambling."  
  
"It's the pain meds," she said, "I'm a little out of it."  
  
"Ah," he said. "I should have guessed."  
  
The baby stirred and began to fuss a little.  
  
Wufei picked her up and held her against his shoulder and she grew quiet.  
  
"Already a pro," said Sally.  
  
"I've been holding her most of the night," said Wufei, quietly so as not to wake Mei.  
  
Suddenly, Sally burst into tears.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Wufei anxiously coming to sit down by her again. He took his free hand and put it on Sally's holding it tightly.  
  
"It's not supposed to be this way!" she sobbed.  
  
"Are you in pain?" he asked, letting go of her hand and reaching for the call button.  
  
"NO!" she said. "Well a little," she sniffed, wiping her eyes on the sheet.  
  
"But I'm mostly just sad, I feel like I let you and Mei down somehow."  
  
"Sally, you're both fine, that's all that matters," he said, reaching for her hand again.  
  
"That's all I care about, honestly. Six hours ago, I thought you both might die and I would have gladly died with you. I have nothing without you, nothing!"  
  
He said in a harsh whisper, gripping her hand as he bent over, placing his head against her arm. Mei squeaked a little in protest against him.  
  
"You're squeezing poor Mei a little, my dear," said Sally gently.  
  
He looked up, tears running down his face. "Sorry," he muttered to the infant, and placed her back in the bassinet.  
  
"Wufei, you're crying!" Sally exclaimed.  
  
"I'm just exhausted," he said, turning his head and pulling a handkerchief from his pocket clumsily to wipe his face.  
  
"It's okay," she said, "we've all had a terrible day. But, everything is going to be fine now."  
  
"I know," he said.  
  
"Come, sit down on the bed," said Sally. She looked at his face as he carefully lowered himself onto the bed.  
  
"You are exhausted. Lay down next to me and put your head down right here," she said, patting the pillow that he had gotten earlier.  
  
He complied, curling up next to her side and Sally moved over a little to give him more room.  
  
"Stay here with me for a while," she whispered, putting her hand on his hair.  
  
"Mm," he said. In five minutes, he was asleep.  
  
Sally closed her eyes and followed him there. 


	20. Duo the Spy

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 20  
  
Duo the Spy  
  
(AN: To Jack, who is sick and needs to laugh instead of cough.)  
  
"He-chan!" Duo called out, "Come sit with us."  
  
He was eating lunch in the cafeteria at Preventor's Headquarters.  
  
Heero stood undecided for a few seconds then carried his tray over to where Wufei and Duo were sitting.  
  
"Good afternoon, Heero," said Wufei politely. "How is your wife?"  
  
Heero was silent, holding his coffee cup and looking into it.  
  
"Something wrong with your coffee, He-chan?" asked Duo, looking over his shoulder into the cup.  
  
"No," said Heero shortly, took a sip of it.  
  
"Everything all right?" asked Duo, persisting. Heero was acting strangely, even for Heero.  
  
"Yes," said Heero, stubbornly monosyllabic.  
  
He put down the cup and continued to stare at his plate.  
  
"Not hungry, Heero?" asked Wufei, also noticing that Heero was acting a bit odd.  
  
"I don't know," said Heero picking up his sandwich and taking a bite mechanically.  
  
"Then why are you eating?" asked Duo, giving Wufei a questioning glance.  
  
"It's lunchtime," said Heero, frowning and putting down the sandwich. He stared at his plate again, not moving.  
  
Finally Duo lost patience with the mechanical Heero routine.  
  
He put his mouth close to Heero's nearest ear (fully aware of the imminent danger to life and limb) and shouted, "Earth to HEERO!"  
  
Heero immediately grabbed his butter knife with one hand and Duo's braid with the other and pinned him to the table, holding the knife to Duo's throat.  
  
"Leave me ALONE!" he said between clenched jaws and just as suddenly, released Duo and walked off.  
  
"Something is definitely wrong in He-chan-ville," said Duo, choking a little as he got up from his awkward position on the table.  
  
"Here," said Wufei, handing Duo his glass of water. "You may be correct."  
  
"May?" asked Duo, after taking a long soothing drink of water.  
  
"Okay, he's acting stranger than usual," said Wufei.  
  
"I wonder if something is wrong between him and Relena?" mused Duo. "You notice he didn't answer you when you asked about her."  
  
"It's their business Duo, stay out of it," said Wufei. "You are terminally curious. And I mean that literally in Heero's case."  
  
Duo began to hum the theme song from an old TV program, 'Mission Impossible' under his breath. Off key. Wufei winced.  
  
"Your mission, Mr. Maxwell, should you choose to accept it," said Duo in dramatic tones, "is to discover why Preventor Heero Yuy, is acting weirder than a three dollar bill. This message will self-destruct in 3 seconds. BEEEEP!"  
  
"What?" said Wufei, looking at Duo like he had just asked him to drink tequila shots with him stark naked.  
  
"You are so pop-culturally deprived," said Duo, shaking his head at Wufei.  
  
"I no idea what you are carrying on about," said Wufei, "but may I give you the name of a good psychiatrist?"  
  
"It just means that if I don't figure out what is up with He-chan, I'm gonna die of curiosity," exclaimed Duo. "Aren't you curious?"  
  
"No," said Wufei. "Maybe he's just having a bad day. People have bad days."  
  
"Not like this," said Duo. "Did you see him, he was acting like a zombie!"  
  
"And that is different how?" said Wufei, smirking a little.  
  
"Oh, come on, Wu-chan," Duo said. "Even Heero usually says Hi and Bye to people. I mean, I know he has the social skills of a dead slug, but he just walked off and left his lunch sitting here."  
  
"That is a little strange, I grant you," said Wufei thoughtfully. "But, I refuse to get involved with any of your hair-brained schemes, Maxwell."  
  
" I have pictures of you getting a lap dance from a nearly naked girl at your bachelor party, and I WILL use them if necessary," said Duo, suddenly looking evilly at Wufei.  
  
"You do NOT!" said Wufei, raising his voice.  
  
"Oh yes I DO!" said Duo silkenly, "and she was only wearing a g-string and a smile and YOU!"  
  
"You are loathsome," said Wufei, breathing heavily with indignation.  
  
"Help me find out what's going on with Heero and I'll give you one of them," said Duo.  
  
"How many do you have?" asked Wufei.  
  
"Not telling," said Duo. "I may need your assistance on future missions."  
  
"Blackmailer!" said Wufei, glaring at him.  
  
"I prefer extortionist," said Duo. "It sounds more professional."  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes in disgust.  
  
"Okay, here's the plan," Duo said. "I'll tap his vidphone and you hack into his personal log."  
  
"No!" said Wufei.  
  
"Consider it intelligence gathering practice."  
  
"It's dishonorable to spy upon a comrade," said Wufei, folding his arms.  
  
"She had such nice boobs, Wu-chan, remember?" said Duo nastily. "You ought to, they were right there," he said making a suggestive gesture a few inches from his face.  
  
"Unfortunately, I remember very little from that night," said Wufei. "On account of a certain ben dan I know spiking my drinks."  
  
"Okay, I'll hack into his personal log," said Wufei, "But if he catches either of us, we will experience serious bodily harm, you know that don't you?"  
  
"Life without risk is boring, Wu-chan," said Duo, rubbing his fingertips together.  
  
"Life with all four limbs intact is very pleasant," said Wufei, getting up reluctantly and following Duo out of the cafeteria.  
  
Three point 4 hours later, Duo heard a beeping in the small mic he had hidden in his ear, carefully concealed in his hair.  
  
"Good afternoon, Relena Darlian-Yuy's office," said an overly perky voice that made Duo want to stick his finger down his throat.  
  
"Put me through to my wife," said Heero's voice.  
  
"Yes, right away, Mr. Yuy," said the professional chirper.  
  
"Relena Darlian-Yuy here," said Relena's voice, sounding a tad weary.  
  
"It's me," said Heero, "How are you?"  
  
"What a sweet talker," thought Duo, leaning his head to one side as he listened.  
  
"Better," said Relena. "I'm not nauseous anymore."  
  
"Good," said Heero, "I still think you should be home."  
  
"We already discussed that, I'm fine," said Relena, her voice sounding firm.  
  
"I just don't want anything to go wrong," said Heero's voice.  
  
"Geez, he actually sounds worried," said Duo under his breath.  
  
"Nothing is wrong," said Relena. "The doctor said everything is fine, normal, Heero, quit worrying."  
  
"Relena is sick?" thought Duo. "No wonder He-chan is acting weird."  
  
He suddenly felt like a low sneaking spying shit heel and reached up to click off the connection when he heard..  
  
"I can't help worrying, koishii," said Heero. "I miss you. I love you."  
  
Duo felt like he'd just walked in on someone having sex.  
  
"Okay, I'm officially a voyeur," he muttered, "I'm a nasty vile miserable excuse for a human being. And I'm going to keep listening." He grinned.  
  
"Oh Heero," sighed Relena. "I wish you were here. I miss you too, honey bear."  
  
"Honey bear?" thought Duo. "I'm gonna puke."  
  
"Relena, please put your feet up and rest at least," said Heero.  
  
"I will, sweetie."  
  
"Promise me you won't work too hard," he said.  
  
"I will, honey bear."  
  
"Note to self," thought Duo. "Remember next time Heero gives you death glare to call him 'honey bear'."  
  
"Take care of yourself," said Heero, "and our baby," he added.  
  
"AH HAH!" thought Duo. He jumped up in his office and did a little dance of joy.  
  
"Mission accomplished," he yelled, making the secretary in the outer office give him a very odd look.  
  
Duo ripped the earpiece out of his ear, taking a few strands of hair along with it.  
  
"Ow, goddammit" he said, rubbing his head.  
  
He ran out of his office and down to Wufei's and walked inside.  
  
"Duo, I can't break Heero's personal I.D code," Wufei said, shaking his head. "I've been trying all afternoon."  
  
"No need, Spy Extraordinaire Duo Maxwell has cracked the case," crowed Duo.  
  
"What?" asked Wufei.  
  
"I know what's bugging Heero!" he said, doing the same little dance of joy around Wufei's desk.  
  
"Well, what is it?" asked Wufei.  
  
"I thought you said we should mind our own business," said Duo, archly.  
  
"Tell me Maxwell, or I'll tell Hilde that it was YOU who hired the lap dancer," Wufei threatened him.  
  
"Relena is enciente" said Duo mysteriously.  
  
"Pregnant?" asked Wufei, his knowledge of French not that profound.  
  
"Yep," said Duo. "Knocked up, preggers, in the family way, a bun in the oven."  
  
"Ah," said Wufei. "That explains the distracted air about our Heero quite nicely."  
  
"Must be something in the water," said Duo.  
  
"If you believe that," mocked Wufei, "then your lack of knowledge in that area is more extensive than I had thought. You may have to explain this to your child someday, I suggest you get a book."  
  
"It's just an expression," said Duo, irritated.  
  
"Now we have a problem," said Wufei.  
  
"What?" asked Duo.  
  
"We have to pretend we don't know about Relena when we do know," said Wufei, "And if we slip up, Heero will know we've been spying on him."  
  
"And then he will push us head first up our own respective tail pipes," finished Duo.  
  
"No doubt," said Wufei, looking depressed.  
  
"I have one last request," said Wufei.  
  
"What?" asked Duo.  
  
"Can I have those pictures before I get killed? I want Sally to remember me as a nice person."  
  
"Okay," said Duo, plopping down on the sofa in Wufei's office.  
  
"They're no good to a dead man."  
  
The door to Wufei's office burst open and Heero strode in, his eyes blazing.  
  
In his hand was a tangle of wires.  
  
"Maxwell," he said menacingly. "Did you tap my vidphone? I recognize this piss-poor work!"  
  
"Who me, honey bear?" asked Duo, preparing to run very quickly.  
  
"Omae o koruso, bakayarou!" yelled Heero, as Duo ran out the other door of Wufei's office and down the hall, Heero hot on his heels.  
  
Wufei grabbed his jacket and ran out of the door. "Personal emergency," he said to the receptionist as he ran past her desk.  
  
He heard a scream down the hallway. "Ah, Heero not a swirly!"  
  
"I probably won't be in tomorrow, either," said Wufei, as he ran toward the elevator. 


	21. Chibis

Daddy Duo  
  
Chapter 21  
  
Chibis  
  
(AN: Final chapter. Aren't you relieved?)  
  
"Mei!" yelled Solo, "Slow down!"  
  
"She cheated, she had a head start!" he said to Tristan.  
  
Tristan nodded, his curly honey blond hair falling into his face.  
  
"She did," he said. The older six-year-old boy was his hero, so anything he said was agreed to instantly.  
  
Mei looked over her shoulder and kept running. Her almond shaped green eyes were alight with mischief. Two dark brown braids flew out behind her slight form.  
  
"Catch me!" she called to the two boys, running faster on the huge green lawn past the fishpond at Quatre and Trowa's estate.  
  
"No fair, you had a head start!" yelled Solo, stopping and putting his hands on his hips. He swung his head back and forth, and his own long reddish brown braid swished back and forth across the back of his red T- shirt.  
  
"Stay away from the fish pond," Duo hollered at his son. "You don't have any more dry clothes left!"  
  
He shifted Anna on to his other arm and then handed her to Hilde.  
  
"I'd better go get him, or he'll be wet again," said Duo.  
  
"Go ahead," said Hilde. "But his other clothes are almost ready to come out of the dryer."  
  
"I need to change Anna anyway," said Hilde. "I'll grab them just in case."  
  
Duo took off across the lawn after the three children.  
  
"Solo, Tristan, Mei," he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Get back over here, we're almost ready for the cake."  
  
Relena came over to Hilde, holding onto her two year-old daughter's tiny hand.  
  
"I'll take Mara inside too," said Relena. "She may not make it much longer without exploding unless she has a nap."  
  
As if to illustrate her mother's words, Mara proceeded to stop in her tracks and sit down on the grass, glaring at Relena out of intense blue eyes.  
  
"Oh uh, temper tantrum coming on," said Relena, bending over and picking up Mara before the show could get started.  
  
"Being a diplomat was never this hard," said Relena, grimacing as Mara began to kick and howl.  
  
"Let me have her," said Heero, coming up behind Relena.  
  
"Quiet," he said in a low voice to his daughter and she scowled at him.  
  
"Come here," he said. Mara held out her arms and he took her.  
  
"T'-chan," she said.  
  
"Daddy's girl," said Relena to Hilde as Mara quietly put her head down on Heero's shoulder and closed her eyes.  
  
(AN: I have one of these and only Dad would do when she was cranky.)  
  
"Whatever works," said Hilde. Anna began to whine.  
  
"Time for a change," said Hilde. "We'll be right back." She headed up the short path to the house.  
  
Duo was still chasing Mei, Solo and Tristan around the fishpond.  
  
"Don't you dare jump in again!" he threatened Solo, who was managing to keep away from his father.  
  
Quatre came out holding a large chocolate cake on a silver plate.  
  
"Everyone ready for cake?" he asked, raising his voice above the din, holding up the artfully decorated dessert.  
  
"Cake!" yelled Solo, dodging his father, running past his mother and up the path to stand in front of Quatre.  
  
"Uncle Cat, I wanna big piece!" said Solo.  
  
"Me too," said Tristan, looking up at his father.  
  
"Then come and sit down," said Quatre. Trowa came out of the back door, carrying a large tub of ice cream.  
  
"Ice cream!" said Tristan. "What kind, Dad?" he asked Trowa, trying to jump up and see what his father was holding.  
  
"Vanilla," said Trowa, "But I have sprinkles."  
  
"Yay, sprinkles!" shouted Solo.  
  
"I like chocolate best," said Tristan, making a little disappointed face.  
  
"We have chocolate cake," said Solo. "So vanilla ice cream is okay."  
  
Tristan nodded reluctantly. "Okay," he said. "If you say so."  
  
"You can't have chocolate everything, Tristy," said Solo. "You have to have vanilla sometimes or you get sick of chocolate."  
  
(AN: This was an actual conversation between two of my own kids.)  
  
"You never get sick of chocolate," said Tristan, disagreeing with his idol for once.  
  
"Maybe the sprinkles are chocolate," he said hopefully.  
  
"Hey, Mei is getting all the cake!" said Solo, turning around to see Mei being served a large piece of cake by Quatre.  
  
"Mei, you big pig!" said Solo indignantly, coming up to the picnic table, "You didn't wait for us!"  
  
"Solo, that's no way to talk to Mei," said Duo. "Tell her you're sorry."  
  
"But DAD," protested Solo. "She didn't wait for us!"  
  
"So?" said Duo, "It's not her fault she knows when to come and sit down when she's told."  
  
Mei gave Solo and Tristan an arch look and took a big bite of cake, making loud yummy noises.  
  
"Okay," said Solo, grimacing, "I'msorryMei," he said quickly and sat down at the table, looking at the cake.  
  
"Very heartfelt," said Duo sarcastically, reaching over and giving Solo a one-armed hug and kissing the top of his head.  
  
"Dad, don't kiss me in front of Mei," said Solo in a stage whisper. "She makes fun of me."  
  
"Okay," whispered Duo back at him.  
  
"Mei, can't you be nicer to Solo?" asked Sally, sitting at the end of the table next to Wufei.  
  
"No, I don't think so," Mei said seriously, regarding her forkful of cake.  
  
"He's a ben dan," she added, chewing the small bite.  
  
Wufei pretended to drop his napkin to hide his chuckle. Sally elbowed him in the ribs and he grunted.  
  
"Mei, you shouldn't call Solo that," said Sally in an admonishing tone. She gave Wufei an "this is all your fault" look and put down her fork.  
  
"But Ba says it all the time," argued Mei, looking up with innocent doe eyes.  
  
"What's a ben dan?" asked Tristan, his mouth full of cake.  
  
"Never mind," said Quatre. "You know enough inappropriate words."  
  
"What's inappropo?" asked Tristan.  
  
"I'll tell you later," said Quatre. "Eat your cake." He gave Wufei a slightly crusty look from under his blond bangs. Wufei gave him a neutral look in return, owning nothing.  
  
"Are the sprinkles chocolate?" Tristan asked Trowa.  
  
"Yes," said Trowa. "I remembered they're your favorite."  
  
He smiled shyly at his son, and Tristan gave him a similar smile back.  
  
Rashid came out of the house with an infant in each burly arm.  
  
"The girls won't take their naps without seeing you first, Master Quatre, Master Trowa," he said.  
  
"Don't worry about it Rashid," Quatre said, putting down the cake server.  
  
"Come here, sweetie," he said to the dark haired girl, Leila. She grinned toothlessly, and squealed with delight, her ice blue eyes crinkling at him.  
  
The smaller red headed girl clung to Rashid's arm shyly and peeked at everyone from under her wild curls. Large brown eyes blinked slowly at everyone from an elfin face.  
  
"Don't be shy, Maggie," said Trowa, "I'll get you." He scooped up the little girl in his arms and she hid her face in Trowa's shirt.  
  
"That orphanage on L-2 was certainly a treasure trove for us," said Quatre to Duo.  
  
"They're great kids, aren't they?" said Duo. His eyes misted.  
  
"Remember when I told you years ago that I wished someone like you had come along when I was a kid?"  
  
"I certainly do, Duo," said Quatre. He winced as Leila made a grab at his hair and gently pried her hand loose.  
  
"Where do you think I got the idea of adopting more children?"  
  
"I wondered," said Duo. "I'm glad I was your inspiration."  
  
"If I could, I'd take them all, Duo," he said to his friend. "You know that."  
  
"Just supporting the orphanage is enough," said Duo. "We can't fix everything or everyone, even if we want to."  
  
Quatre looked at him. "I know that now. You just do the best you can. Children teach you that. You don't have to do everything perfect to be a good parent. They're amazingly forgiving."  
  
"Ah sweetie, quit yanking Daddy's shirt," he said to Leila.  
  
"She's a feisty one," said Duo, looking at the chubby-cheeked little girl who had a death grip on Quatre's blue shirt.  
  
"She latched onto me from the moment I saw her," said Quatre. "She definitely has a strong will, wouldn't let me put her down."  
  
"It takes one to survive," said Duo.  
  
"We're back," said Hilde, coming up and handing a soundly sleeping Anna to her father.  
  
"Worn out at last," said Duo, holding his limp year old daughter in his arms. He brushed off black strands of baby fine hair from her forehead with his fingers.  
  
"They're so cute when they're asleep," said Trowa, who was holding a sleeping Maggie.  
  
"We could put these rug rats in the girl's room," said Quatre, who had finally gotten Leila to close her eyes. "We'll put Anna in a crib with Maggie, she's a cuddler."  
  
"Take this one too," said Heero, who had a sleeping Mara hanging off his shoulder. "She's getting heavy."  
  
"We'll put her in with Leila," said Quatre.  
  
"A baby girl slumber party," said Relena, the image making her smile.  
  
Rashid and Trowa each carried two girls and went inside the house, coming back a few minutes later.  
  
"How come I don't have a little sister?" asked Mei, suddenly looking up from her ice cream.  
  
"Because you're an only child," said her father.  
  
"That's a dumb answer," said Mei. "You should get me a sister," she said, "They have one." She pointed at Solo and Tristan. "It's not fair!"  
  
"Tell your mother," said Wufei, casting his eyes toward Sally. "She's in charge of that department."  
  
"Can I have a sister for my birthday, Mu?" asked Mei.  
  
Everyone laughed or smiled.  
  
Sally looked at Wufei. "See what you started?" she asked him.  
  
"We'll talk about it later, sweetheart," said Sally.  
  
"Unfair!" repeated Mei, licking the last bit of ice cream off of her spoon.  
  
"It takes a long time to get a sister," said Wufei, trying to explain.  
  
"Then you better get busy, Ba," said Mei, arching her eyebrows at him.  
  
Duo threw his head back and howled with laughter as Wufei turned bright red.  
  
Mei gave everyone a puzzled look and went to sit by her mother.  
  
"Shut up, ben dan," growled Wufei.  
  
"That's inapropo, Uncle Wufei," said Tristan, now sitting on Rashid's lap.  
  
"I still don't know what a ben dan is," he said sadly to Trowa.  
  
"It means 'idiot'," said Trowa.  
  
"Oh, is that all," said Tristan.  
  
The older kids were coming down from their sugar high into the drowsy post- hyper stage, and were actually sitting quietly on or near their parents.  
  
Solo yawned loudly and put his head on his mother's lap.  
  
"Mommy," he said, "Can I have a puppy?"  
  
"No dear, we talked about that already," said Hilde. "We don't have room for a puppy."  
  
"If we give Anna to Mei, then can I have a puppy?" he asked.  
  
"We're not giving Anna away," said Hilde.  
  
"Darn," said Solo, "I'd rather have a puppy."  
  
"Solo!" said Hilde.  
  
"Well, I would. Then Mei could have a little sister and I could have a puppy."  
  
"You have a devious mind, my son," said Duo.  
  
"Does that mean I'm smart?" asked Solo.  
  
"Yes," said Duo.  
  
"See?" he stuck his tongue out at Mei. "I'm not a ben dan."  
  
The End 


End file.
